Where reading is a way of life

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Partials by Dan Wells


Synopsis:  The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials--engineered organ beings identical to humans--has decimated the population.  Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors of North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated.  The threat of Partials is still imminent, but worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade.  Our time is running out. 

Kira, a sixteen-year old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch.  But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them--connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

My 2 cents:  WOWZA!  This is an amazing read, and I think everyone should read it.  I liked it even better than Divergent, and I think is only second to the Hunger Games as far as YA dystopians!

First of all, this is the first of a series.  I don't know if it's going to be a trilogy or not; but I do know there will be a sequel.  This is a big book, packed with lots of story.  There is a lot of action, a lot of science, a lot of suspense, and even a bit of love thrown in.  The romance isn't a big part of the story though; I think we will get a lot more in the next book they way it ended.

The characters are phenomenal.  All of them were very will written with a lot of character development.  Considering how much action was going on, this was a pretty amazing feat for the author to pull off!  Kira was the perfect female lead; and I love that she discovers lots of self truths on her journey.  Marcus, her boyfriend, was very lovable; even though you were pretty upset with him about halfway through it; it was easy to see why he and Kira were a couple.  The supporting characters were also very well written; they came alive on the page for me.  

The story was a classic dystopian in a lot of ways; we had no idea what the government was really doing, but we were sure they were hiding something.  What they are hiding isn't even the big twist in the story; the twist was pretty unexpected, but there were some hints that had me thinking!  Not impossible to figure out, but not easy, either.  I love when a story can pull that off!

All in all, a great read.  I recommend that you get a copy pronto!  5 stars for me!

The Hunger Games Countdown: Best Quotes


We are getting down to the wire!  I am getting so excited for this movie!  Definitely going to the midnight showing!  I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from the books.  Just to let you know, not all of these are from the first book.

“Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.” 
― Suzanne CollinsThe Hunger Games

“I don't want to lose the boy with the bread.” 
― Suzanne CollinsThe Hunger Games

“Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying.” 
― Suzanne CollinsThe Hunger Games

“You know, you could live a thousand lifetimes and not deserve him.” 
― Suzanne CollinsCatching Fire

“So it's you and a syringe against the Capitol? See, this is why no one lets you make the plans.” 
― Suzanne CollinsCatching Fire

“My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here.” 
― Suzanne CollinsCatching Fire

“You're still trying to protect me. Real or not real," he whispers. 
"Real," I answer. "Because that's what you and I do, protect each other.” 
― Suzanne CollinsMockingjay

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday #3

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme put on by Breaking the Spine where we talk about what new releases we are waiting on!

Today I am waiting on Until I Die by Amy Plum, the 2nd book in the Revenants series.  It will be released May 8th.


What book are you waiting on?

Prized by Caragh M O'Brien


Synopsis:  Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, and handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year old midwife Gaia Stone survives, only to be captured by the people of Sylum, a dystopian society where women rule the men who drastically outnumber them, and a kiss is a crime. In order to see her sister again, Gaia must submit to their strict social code and the oppressive rules of Matrarc Olivia.  Meanwhile, two brothers claim her attention as they attempt to understand the environmental trap that keeps the people of Sylum captive, and suddenly Gaia must contend with the exciting, uncomfortable, and altogether new feeling of being desired.  But when someone from her past shows up, Gaia  discovers that survival alone is not enough and that justice requires sacrifice.

My 2 cents:  Its really hard to do a review on this book, simply because a lot of it is so strange and outside the realm of normal reading.  I'll start with the society that Gaia "escapes" to.

Sylum feels like a village from pioneer times.  They don't have much technology, and live like peasants.  The last few generations, only 1 out of 10 babies born are girls, so they are dealing with the threat of extinction.  Because of this, they have way backwards rules.  First of all, the women are in charge.  At first, I though this was pretty cool, until I realized what daily life is like for the men.  Their sperm is tested when they are young to see if they can reproduce.  It turns out not only is there a shortage of girls, about a third of the men have inactive sperm.  The ones that can reproduce are given more rights than the ones who can't. Girls can only acceptably marry the ones that can reproduce.  They are not allowed to marry the ones that can't; if they have "relations" with these men, or decide not to marry at all, or have babies out of wedlock, they are cast out on their own (still living in Sylum) and lose their rights to vote.  If any man touches a woman and is caught, they can be put in the stocks, send to their makeshift prison camp, or exiled from Sylum.  Way harsh, huh? Can you imagine men not being able to touch a woman at all?  Ever? Because their sperm is bad?  Crazy!

Then there is Gaia, stuck in the middle of this.  She gets into a power struggle with Matrac Olivia from the start. She does have a mind of her own, and just escaped a society that gave her no rights because she was born outside the wall.  Now she can have her rights; but only if she follows the rules.  Besides which, she can't even visit her baby sister.

The weirdest thing of all is that when people come to Sylum, and stay more than a few days, they get what's called an "acclimation sickness" that makes them very ill for a few days; then they adjust and are no longer able to leave Sylum.  People who try to leave are found dead not far from the village.

I loved this story once is got going.  It took awhile to get into the story because it was so off-base.  But I think that's what made the story so good.  Gaia frustrates me through much of this story; it really is a huge learning experience for her.  She made up for it in the end, though.  I think there will be atleast one more book in the series, the way that it ended.  Definitely worth reading, giving it 4 stars!

Top Ten Tuesday #2

Top Ten Tuesday is put on by Broke and Bookish because we love making lists!  I like to share my lists and hope you will as well!

You guys! It's the first day of spring today!! And what better way to kick off this season which means bye-bye to the nasty cold (a girl can hope right?) than to break out a list with the exciting books coming out between March 20th and June 21st 2012?? 

I'm doing new releases, but of course it can also be books that are already out, cause a TBR list is just the books you're wanting/hoping to read.

10.  The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa--releases April 24th


9.  Rapture by Lauren Kate--Releases June 12th


8.  The Enchantress by Michael Scott--releases May 22nd



7.  The Selection by Kiera Cass--Releases April 24


6.  Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock--Releases May 8th


5.  The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan--Releases May 1st


4.  City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare--Releases May 8th


3.  Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore--Releases May 1st


2.  The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting--Releases April 17


1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth--Releases May 1st



Squee!  What are you looking forward to this spring?

Monday, March 19, 2012

Blog Award!



I am the winner of the Liebster Blog Award!  The Liebster Award is given to bloggers with less and 200 followers to try to get more traffic!  Its was given to me by Just Another Book Nerd.  You should stop by and check out her site!

The Rules for this award are:
1. Thank who gave it to you and link back to their site
2. Nominate up to 5 people for the award.
3. Let them know they've won!
4. Post the Award on your blog
5. Follow my blog!

And now I'm passing this award on to:


There it is, congratulations to our winners!  Make sure to check out their blogs!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

What Are You Reading Monday #3


What are you Reading is put on by Book Journey to share what we read this week and what we plan on reading this week.

***Exciting News!****
I happened to win for last week's raffle!!  Thank you so much, Book Journey!  Got to pick out a book I wanted, so fabulous!

Last Week I read:




Started reading but didn't finish:


My reading list for the week: