Sunday, July 24, 2011

Book Review: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Wings (Wings, #1)Wings by Aprilynne Pike

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yay! A good book...finally! It made me giggle. It made me laugh out loud. It made me grip the book with anticipation of what would come next. It made me sigh with happiness, tear up with worry & sorrow, and gave me the same sense of torn confusion that Laurel experiences. I LOVED IT!

I'm so glad to see there are more books in this series and plan to request them from the library right away.

The world Aprilynne Pike created is simple and beautiful. The writing is clear, concise, and enjoyable in ways I haven't felt from the last few books I've read. Wings is likely to become one of my favorite series.

I'm so torn between being a Team David or Team Tamani girl. I like them both so much and for such different reasons. I'm sad that Laurel will one day have to choose and it means someone's heart will be broken.

The only complaint I have is the name dropping of characters from other myth stories (Oberon, Arthur, Merlin, Hecate) and while their involvement in the faerie world was briefly explained, I felt like it was out of place and unnecessary. Maybe we find out more about them in the next book. Maybe not. Either way, it's such a minor thing that I don't really mind it.

This is a book I would definitely recommend. I think readers probably 15 and up could read it as it has clean language and while sex is mentioned/alluded to, it doesn't happen in the story.

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Oh, wow. I just read some of the other reviews on Goodreads for this book, since I liked it so much, and I must say I'm surprised! So many people seemed to think this book was just terrible. Most of them also thought Twilight was terrible. While I'll admit that Bella Swan could be annoying and whiney, I still thought the story was enjoyable.

As far as Wings is concerned, I thought the main characters were well developed and believable. I mean, come on - she's a faerie plant creature. Of course she isn't going to eat greasy burgers and milkshakes. It gives a plausible explanation as to why that is too. I did think it was really weird that Laurel would think to tell the boy she started crushing on about the growth on her back when she wouldn't talk to her mom about it - especially since they were supposed to be so tight of a family. Also, I was kinda 'ewed' by the mention of touching her petals inappropriately by Tamani, but I chalked that up to his attempted 'bad-boy' image. I personally really enjoyed reading a book where the author didn't use words I had to look up the definitions for just to understand the sentence. This is the Young Adult genre. If you want to read more complex sentence structure and enhanced vocabulary, you're reading the wrong genre. From now on, I will try to only read a review of a book on Goodreads AFTER I've read the book. Had I read all those negative criticisms, I might not have read the book and I'm really glad that I did read it.




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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Book Review: Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Hereafter (Hereafter, #1)Hereafter by Tara Hudson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Hereafter was an enjoyable read. After the first chapter, I was hooked! The story (in the beginning) is mysterious and very interesting. Even though this is a ghost story, it is presented in a way that makes it believable. I loved how well we got to know the protagonist (Amelia), her love interest (Joshua), the antagonist (Eli), and the secondary characters of Ruth and Jillian.

I did feel like the book slowed down in the middle and lost it's "can't-put-it-downness", but the writing was beautiful nonetheless and the story interesting enough to pull me out of the slump. The ending, while a little less believable than the rest of the book thanks to the arrival (and subsequent quick departure) of 'the boss' demons, was satisfactory.

I haven't verified this information, but I read elsewhere that Tara Hudson might do a sequel to Hereafter. I'm kind of hoping she doesn't. Yes, there are several questions that were left unanswered and bad guys left undefeated, but I'm not curious enough to keep wondering about them or to read a sequel to find out the answers.




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Another Awesome Giveway Contest

Here is the link to another great contest to win 3 ARC books. All three sound incredible. I read Stephanie Perkins: Anna & The French Kiss and it was good. Not my absolute favorite because of the predictability of it but other than that, it was great. I'd heard of The Eleventh Plague and thought that it sounded interesting. After reading Carolina Valdez Miller's review for The Girl of Fire and Thorns, it is definitely one I'm adding to my TBR list! As promised...
CVM's 3 ARC Giveaway

Good luck everyone!

Writing Advice From Another Blogger

I loved this blog and the advice it offers is bound to be helpful.

http://girlswithpens.com/2011/07/21/crafting-a-25-word-pitch

After I create my own 25 word pitch, I'll post it here. Any critiques (good/bad/suggestions) are welcome.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Awesome Giveaway From RmBmLm

Read Me Bookmark Me Love Me is one of my favorite blogs. This awesome site posts reviews of books and other interesting book related info. I get so excited to find out what new book they have discovered for me whenever I get an email update in my inbox.

Currently, they're having a great giveaway for hitting 850 followers (a number that seems so daunting to me at this stage of the game). Click either button on the left (they're after the countdown widgets for 2 books I'm dying to get my hands on) to take you to their blog or the contest form. I suggested heading over to their blog first and taking a look around before you enter the contest. They have some great stuff posted! Good luck to you all, but I hope I win!

Audio Book Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #2)Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At first, the telling of the story from 4 different points-of-view irritated me. I thought the first book with 2 povs was enough. But, now that I've finished the story, I'm glad Maggie Stiefvater did choose to write from the perspective of four different characters. It was good to get to know each of the characters so intimately. I liked Isabel in the previous book and getting to hear the story from her made me like her all that much more. She is such a complex girl! I didn't care for the Cole character that much but was glad when he started to be good, even though I feel that the change in him from the jerk to the caring guy was a bit unbelievable. Grace and Sam kind of annoyed me. They should've been more open and honest with each other...after everything they went through to be together in book 1, I couldn't believe Grace wouldn't be honest with Sam about her fears or that Sam would so willingly blind himself to her illness.

The story ended with not so much a cliff-hanger as a promise for more to come. I look forward to getting my hands on a copy of Forever and finishing the trilogy. And I am so glad that it is meant to be a trilogy and won't be dragged out for book after book so the series can end well and on a high note rather than being dragged on forever just to market on the fact that the author has an audience now.

As far as an audiobook goes, Linger was much better than Shiver. The voices of the readers worked well together and were no where near as annoying/aggrevating as the ones used in Shiver. I thought the voice of Sam went a little too extreme into being the soft, tender, artistic type after being so gravelly and emotional in book 1 but I did like the reader better. Coles voice fit his personality well. Both girls did a great job too.

I look forward to finding out the conclusion to the story about the wolves of Mercy Falls!



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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Book Review: Bite Club (Morganville #10) by Rachel Caine

Bite Club (The Morganville Vampires, #10)Bite Club by Rachel Caine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I love the Morganville vampires but this was by far my least favorite in the series. I didn't care for the insight into Shane's head - it felt like cheating. There was all this build-up for a great big war and then it was over in a couple pages without any real action. The big cage match fizzled and the bad guys died way to fast. I didn't feel like anyone's character really grew in this story and the only thing that progressed was the fact that Claire could've left but chose to stay. I gave it 3 stars because I love the town of Morganville and how twisted it is, but I think I might be done with this series now.



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