Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas Review

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From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

AHHHHHHH! This book almost killed me. Also, forgive me if this review is all over the place. I want to talk about every event that happened in Crown of Midnight, but 95% of them are spoilers. I'll try to stay away from them. Let's start with the romance in the book. OMG things get steamy in a PG-13 kind of way. Which was enough to make my heart so very happy. Even though the romance in the book is a highlight, it doesn't take away from what's important to our characters. Not many authors can balance things out like Sarah J. Maas does. 

There was a lot more things happening in this installment than the previous one. More magic, more action, just more of everything! We get to see what Celaena is capable of and let me tell you something: Celeina is one scary chick. But at the same time she has one of the most beautiful souls ever. The fact that she's risking her life to do the right thing made me love her even more. This girl loves with such a passion and hates with the same intensity.  There was a point in the book where I wanted to hug her so bad and tell her that my heart was broken too. Thinking about it is making me teary eyed. 

I do want to talk about one of the twists in the book. From the beginning of the series, I've been wondering this character's identity. In book one, there's a hint of whom this person is, but the hint gets buried under everything else that was going on, so I kinda forgot about it. But then in book two these clues start to come up again and again and I just loved it. When it was finally revealed I literally squealed! This twist will take this series to the next level!  And I CAN'T WAIT!

Crown of Midnight broke my heart and made me want to kill someone but at the same time it gave me hope. I need the third book in my hands ASAP! I do have to admit that I'm a little scared about one of my favorite characters dying. Maas shows us in this book that she can do whatever she wants, and we have to love it and deal with it. And I only ask the author to please don't go all George R.R. Martin on us

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch Review and Giveaway

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There are some things you can’t leave behind…

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

I don't know how to put my thoughts into words when it comes to this book. I really don't. If You Find Me broke my heart in tiny little pieces. As I reader, I always experienced this feeling of wishing I could dive in the book and save the day. I've never wanted to be able to do this more than with this book. Not to save the day but only to hug Carey and Jenessa. I wanted to adopt these girls and give them all the love they never got from their own mother. Even now thinking about  it brings tears to my eyes. This part of the book was so hard to read. The abuse and neglect these girls experienced made me feel like I couldn't breathe and powerless because I couldn't help them.   

Even though my heart broke in parts of this book I just couldn't help but loving it. In all that darkness and sadness there was hope and healing. I didn't trust anybody just like Carey but in the end almost all of the people she crossed after she got rescued from the camper were so amazing to her and her sister. Her dad and stepmom were highlights in the book. These people wanted nothing else but to make the girls happy and comfortable. They showed the sisters  love and what being a real parent is all about. Their relationship was just beautiful.

This book is beautifully written and is definitely a fast read. I know it sounds like a depressing book, but it really isn't. It was so amazing and powerful. I hope you guys give it a try. I really do.

I'll be giving away a paperback copy of If You Find Me. This giveaway is INT'l and will end on 4/3/14.

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Blog Tour: Survivor Roundup by Angela Scott Review and Giveaway!!!

Get the Zombie West†Omnibus†on 

Amazon. Add the†Zombie West Omnibus†to your Goodreads to-read shelf!

Red always knew she would have to face the man who nearly destroyed her. She just didn’t figure it would happen so soon...

With the plague sweeping across the nation, destroying many and turning others into walking corpses, survivors head West in search of a chosen land, a place designed to keep the infected out, while sealing survivors inside. In theory, the idea seems the only way to keep humanity alive. In practice, it doesn’t matter whether a person is on the inside or the out—there is no humanity.

...And even though John Gatherum hunted her down and instigated their reunion, Red’s no longer the passive girl he once manipulated. This time, she has a hidden agenda of her own.

Kill him. Save her family. Save herself.

I fell in love with Angela's writing when I read the first book in the series Wanted: Dead or Undead. She has this gift to engross the reader from page one. Her books are hard to put down. Like the first book in the series Survivor Roundup is full action and zombies! At times I thought the suspense would kill me. It was that amazing! I'm actually not a big fan of zombie books but I'll always make an exception for Angela's books.

I was surprised at how easy details from book one came back to me. I read the first book in 2012, and thought that it would be hard to get into this one but it was so easy to get lost in the story. I loved that we got the same kind of awesomeness, suspense and action from book one. We see new and old characters in Survival Roundup and they are all fascinating. Red like always was such a strong character and so fearless! River was amazing also. This little girl was so mature for her age but at the same time you could feel that she really was a little kid.

I'm in love with this series and wish it was more popular because whoever hasn't read these books are missing out big time! 

About the†Zombie West†Omnibus

The Wild West is hard enough to survive with its native territory, wanted outlaws, and harsh terrain, but with a plague turning civilized people into brain-eating monsters, survival becomes nearly impossible. Red has lost everything to the fast-spreading disease: her family, her trust in mankind, and her hope for a better tomorrow. When she meets Trace, a smooth-talking gambling man whoís more city boy than cowboy, sheís forced down a path sheíd been avoiding for years. Until his arrival, sheíd lived by a certain set of rulesódonít ask names, keep to yourself, donít let anyone too closeóbut the jackass of a man wonít let her be, and he has an uncanny knack for appearing at all the wrong times and in all the wrong places. Each, with a secret of their own, will need to learn that only by working together do they have any chance of surviving The Zombie West. That is, if they donít kill each other first. [Angela Scottís†Zombie West†Omnibus†includes the three books in the†Zombie West†series†WANTED: DEAR OR UNDEAD, SURVIVOR ROUNDUP, and DEAD PLAINS. Find these books on†Amazon,†Barnes & Noble,†iTunes,†Kobo, and†Smashwords.] Genre classification:†YA/Western Romance/Action and Adventure/ with added zombies for utter mayhem.

About Angela Scott

Angela Scott hears voices. Tiny fictional people sit on her shoulders and whisper their stories in her ear. Instead of medicating herself, she decided to pick up a pen, write down everything those voices tell me, and turn it into a book. Sheís not crazy. Sheís an author. For the most part, she writes contemporary Young Adult novels. However, through a writing exercise that spiraled out of control, she found herself writing about zombies terrorizing the Wild Wild Westñand loving it. Her zombies donít sparkle, and they definitely donít cuddle. At least, she wouldnít suggest it. She lives on the benches of the beautiful Wasatch Mountains with two lovely children, one teenager, and a very patient husband. She graduated from Utah State University with a B.A. degree in English, not because of her love for the written word, but because it was the only major that didnít require math. She canít spell, and grammar is her arch nemesis. But they gave her the degree, and there are no take backs.

  Find Angela Scott on her

†website,†Facebook,†Twitter, and†Goodreads.

Get the book!

Find the†Zombie West†Trilogy on†Amazon. 

Don't forget to†add the†Zombie West†Omnibus†to your Goodreads to-read shelf. 

 Connect with Angela Scott on her†website,†Facebook,†Twitter, and†Goodreads.

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The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey: Review & Giveaway!!!!!

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After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

I’ve been a really bad blogger. I read this book last year, and I’m now writing the review! The sad part about this is that I LOVED The 5th Wave, and I never told you guys about it! To tell you the truth, I’m scared to write a review for a book that I really liked. This happens to me with every Melina Marchetta book. I feel like I won’t do the books justice. I just marinate in their loveliness and forget to tell people. When I remembered that I still had to write the review for this one I sent myself on a time out and made myself write it. BUT I’m afraid that because it has been so long, and I know I forgot details, this review will suck. Please forgive me. Don’t be a Bieber and throw eggs at me.

I first heard about The 5th Wave over at Giselle’s blog Xpresso Reads (read her review here). She loved it so much that I pre-ordered it that same day. It was a mission. I was reading that book ASAP no matter what! And I did. As soon as I read the first sentence I was hooked! I couldn’t put the book down. It started out with a lot of things happening and I thought I would be lost, but I wasn’t. Yancey’s writing is amazing and beautiful. The book changes POVs, and it goes back and forth in time, and it’s done beautifully. I was so into this book that I didn’t care about the time jumps. Also, everything that was written in this book had a purpose, and as the book progressed I found myself saying “Thanks for the hint 50 pages ago, Yancey.”

The characters were one of the things that made this book a hit for me. Each one of them has such a unique and unforgettable voice, even the secondary characters. Cassie was an extraordinary character. She was strong willed and very focused on her mission, and that made me want to be right there with her. Evan was another part of the book that adored! He was so caring, and you can see how he’s characters changes throughout the book. He’s very dreamy also. I can’t say anything about the secondary characters but in one of the POV changes I had a “what the f***k” moment. I had to backtrack a few pages to see if I missed something. I didn’t miss anything I had just to keep reading and then everything made sense.

The 5th Wave was fast paced, very scary (one of the waves freaked me out!), realistic and touching. I recommend this one to everyone!

I'm giving away a hard copy of The 5th Wave! To enter just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway is US only and ends 2/17/14. Good luck!!

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Moonglow by Kristen Callihan Review

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Once the seeds of desire are sown . . .

Finally free of her suffocating marriage, widow Daisy Ellis Craigmore is ready to embrace the pleasures of life that have long been denied her. Yet her new-found freedom is short lived. A string of unexplained murders has brought danger to Daisy's door, forcing her to turn to the most unlikely of saviors . . .

Their growing passion knows no bounds . . .

Ian Ranulf, the Marquis of Northrup, has spent lifetimes hiding his primal nature from London society. But now a vicious killer threatens to expose his secrets. Ian must step out of the shadows and protect the beautiful, fearless Daisy, who awakens in him desires he thought long dead. As their quest to unmask the villain draws them closer together, Daisy has no choice but to reveal her own startling secret, and Ian must face the undeniable truth: Losing his heart to Daisy may be the only way to save his soul.

First of all I have to tell you guys that I am obsessed with this series! Obsessed! I am totally fine with that. This book was so refreshing. Callihan's writing is so sophisticated and it transports the reader to the 1800s without being overwhelming. Her writing also makes the reader forget about time and anything that doesn't have to do with the book. Personally the ability to forget everything while reading is one of the characteristics I look forward to in a book.

In the first book,  the two main characters were a bit serious and calm in this book we have two very fun and wild characters. I enjoyed both books equally, but this one was a bit more fun and very fast paced. I liked Ian in book one but now I'm totally in love with him! He has a very dark but lively personality. The reader can only see his internal struggles when reading from his POV. Even then all that darkness and sadness didn't make me feel pity for him. It just made me love him even more. The same goes with Daisy. She has a rough past, but she didn't let that make her weak. She didn't need saving for anyone. Because of that I love her. Also, the chemistry between these two equals HOT!

The plot was equally fantastic. I tried to figure out who was the one behind all the trouble but never got it right. I was very surprised when I found out who it was. There's also a big twist at the end I didn't see coming! This book also gives the readers a glimpse of secondary characters that in the next few books will become main characters! I'm so looking forward to reading the rest of the series.  

Firelight by Kristen Callihan Review

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Once the flames are ignited . . .

Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family's fortune decimated and forced her to wed London's most nefarious nobleman.

They will burn for eternity . . .

Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it's selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can't help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn't felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.

Before I started reading Firelight, I’ve been on a reading slump for over a month. As soon as I open the book and read the first sentence I thought to myself that maybe a paranormal-historical-romance book wasn’t the best way to get me out of it. To my surprise it worked! I don’t know why I was hesitant about this one. I’ve had good experiences with the historical genre. Well the 2 or 3 books that I’ve read were really good. The only thing with this type of books it’s that I feel like I have to pay extra attention to what I’m reading. But at the end it’s all worth it.

I fell in love with Firelight. This book was my universe for 2 days. I didn’t do anything else but read it. One of the things that made me fall in love with it was the Beauty and the Beast feel to it. Archer hides behind a mask because of something that happened to his face, and Miranda is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. The sexual tension was fantastic. It keeps building up and building up until they couldn’t deny each other anymore, and it was magical. Oh my goodness it was perfect.

The paranormal aspect of the book was mild but interesting. It wasn’t until further in the book where I realized that there was much more going than the eye can see. I’m on book 3, and I find that book 2 and 3 have a lot more paranormal activity than in book 1. I’m loving this series!

Overall I think this was a fantastic start to an amazing series! The characters are so alive and lovely. The book has everything. It’s funny, scary, hot, classy and everything made of awesome!

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater Review

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“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. I didn’t just liked it I loved it. The thing is that when I started reading it I went with low expectations. I heard from lots of bloggers how much they liked it, and I decided to give it a try. I don’t regret it. Not one bit. I was hesitant about this one because I didn’t have a great experience reading Maggie’s last two books (The Scorpio Races and Forever), but The Raven Boys was amazing!

At the beginning,  I was a little lost. I was confused with the boys and what they were looking for. I actually didn’t feel anything for any of them for the first half of the book. But then I started liking the boys and their bond. Gansey was the papa bear of the group; he was very protective of the other boys. Ronan was complicated mysterious, and I think I have a crush on him. Noah was the sweet one and very weird. The only boy I didn’t feel anything for was Adam. To me he was very whiny and sensitive. I get it to a point. He was the only boy in the group who didn’t have a rich family. I get why he would get offended when Gansey would offer to pay for anything, but I hated when he would think that Gansey was doing it out of pity. I wanted to punch him a little bit. He’s back-story is sad but not even that made me like him.

My favorite part of the book was Blue and her psychic family. They were so fascinating and odd! I loved them. I would find myself captivated in their conversations and wishing the book had more of them in it. I also like the essence of the book. I say the essence because I didn’t get the whole plot, but I could feel what was behind it. Does that make any sense? Some of the details I didn’t get, but I knew what everything led to. I hope I’m making sense here. That didn’t bother me like it would bother me with other books. I think it all comes down to me not expecting to like The Raven Boys. I know this sounds bad, but I think that’s the key to going into a new book. Sometimes I just need to grab a book and read it without reading reviews or the summary. Of course, this doesn’t work with every book, but it worked with The Raven Boys.

I gave this book a 4 stars rating because of 2 things: Adam and some unsolved plot points. Other than that I enjoyed The Raven Boys very much. That final sentence left me with my mouth hanging open!

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor Review

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Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

As soon as I finished Daughter of Smoke & Bone I went through a withdrawal. I had a very hard time looking for a book to top Laini’s writing and characters. I found none. I had to take comfort in re-reading favorite books and let time heal my empty heart. It was really hard to get over it. So a month before Days of Blood & Starlight came out I got the ARC and I was so very excited to read it until I wasn’t. I just couldn’t put myself through it again. I decided to wait and wait and wait some more until it got closer to the third book’s publication date to read it.

I kind of regret waiting to read DoBaS. I was a little lost at the beginning with all the names, and some of the terms went over my head. But then it all came back to me. Just like with the first book I was smitten by this world and Laini’s writing. I didn’t think that this one would top the first book, but it did. It was so magical and beautiful. I just loved every little thing about this story. I also don’t know how Laini can manage to make the reader care for small characters. I say this because Days of Blood & Starlight changes POVs often. Sometimes some characters get 2 to 5 pages, and I knew I wouldn’t read about them again, but I couldn’t help but care for them.

There's something I have to tell you guys. I have a girl crush on Karou. There, I said it. I always swoon and say how hot the main male character is-Akiva totally is- but Karou definitely has my heart. She’s fearless, she's passionate, and she has blue hair. What else could I ask for in a heroine? I also love where Laini is taking the series. Even thought the book goes from POV to POV and different places in the world(s) it wasn’t messy at all. I was surprisingly in sync with the book.

I'm sad that I finished Days of Blood & Starlight. I'm also feeling like I'm going into a Laini withdrawal. But I have Zuzana and Mik's book to look forward to. They are one of the highlights in this book. They made me laugh, swoon and hope. Books like this make me proud of being a bookworm.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review

Here's something I made after reading Daughter of Smoke & Bone. I think I would make an awesome chimaera! What kind of chimaera would you be? Let me know in the comments!! P.S. I'm not very good at drawing ;)

Fractured by Sarah Fine Review and GIVEAWAY!

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In the week since Lela returned to Rhode Island as Captain of the Guard with Malachi as her second in command, local news has been dominated by chilling sightings of human-like creatures running on all fours. Lela knows there’s only one explanation: the Mazikin have arrived in the land of the living.

Needing to maintain the appearance of a normal life for her foster mother, her probation officer, and her classmates, Lela returns to Warwick High along with Malachi. At night they secretly hunt for the Mazikin nest. To assist, two new Guards from very different parts of the Shadowlands are assigned to Lela’s unit, including the bad boy Jim, who repeatedly challenges Lela's authority. Lela struggles to keep all her Guards on the right side of the law, but their mistakes come at a terrible cost.

As one painful revelation follows another and the Mazikin start targeting those closest to her, Lela finds herself more vulnerable than she’s ever been, wanting a future more than she ever has. With an enemy determined to separate soul from body, one question remains: how much is she willing to sacrifice to protect those she loves?

I was so scared of reading Fractured. I just knew something was going to happen to one of my favorite characters ever. My gut told me I should be afraid, or Alexa from Colletctions just scared the hell out of me. It can go either way. I was so terrified I couldn’t touch the book for almost a month. Then I got over my fears a jumped in. I didn’t have to be afraid because WOW, Sarah Fine knows what she’s doing. I was so impressed with her writing and how it sucked me in. Once you start reading Fractured you won’t be able to stop.

One of the things I liked the most about Fractured were the new characters. Some I adored and some I wanted to strangle with my bare hands. I think that’s what Sarah wanted me to feel. Because OMG. In one scene,  I wanted to kill someone. AH! I was so mad! I wanted to get inside the book and slap some sense into that character! I love when I feel strong feeling toward characters. It doesn’t matter if it's in a positive way or negative way. I just love that I feel that they are real.

I feel that Fractured was a bit scarier than the first book. The Mazikin were bolder and terrifying than in Sanctum also. Every time one of them was mentioned in the book my hair stood on end. With everything that was happening in the book I never saw the twist involving one Mazikin coming. It was kind of a WTF moment actually. It just broke my heart. I can’t forget to mention one of my favorite fictional couples, Lila and Malachi. Sigh… Malachi is such an amazing character. Lela is also amazing and strong. We don’t see main characters like Lila in books that often. That makes me love her even more.

Fractured was amazing! The ending was perfect, and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in the next book! Too bad we have to wait. But I’ll wait as long as I have to. If you haven’t read Sanctum you need to ASAP!!! You don't want to miss out on a great series!

I'm giving away 4 e-copies of Fractured! If you win and you haven't read the first book in the series (Sanctum) you have the option of picking Sanctum instead of Fractured. This Giveaway is INT'l and will end 11/11/13. Good luck!

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