February Random Reads

I love this challenge because its monthly, so you can participate as much or as little as you want!  Its hosted over at I'm Loving Books 

In January, my book was 

I did finish it, and I gave it 4 stars!  Its a very good read.  Each chapter is a little short story about a character that lives in this little town on the east coast.  And each has a different view of Olive Kitteridge, an intimidating woman who seems to be involved in everyone's lives somehow.  We also get a few chapters from her POV.  What I loved was how the story and her character were built up over the course of the novel, and before you realized it, you loved Olive, and really felt for her!  This book was very well written!

The details:

In short, Random Reads is a meme where we pick a random book from our shelf to read within the month. Feel free to do more than one per month, but since a lot of people have a lot of books to read each month, only one is “required” for the meme. I’m on Goodreads so I’m using a combination of the sorting feature and Random.org to pick the book I’m going to read.

WANT TO JOIN IN ON RANDOM READS?

It’s easy…

1. If you’re on Goodreads enable sorting to your to-read shelf (you should see numbers next to each book now).
2. Go to Random.org and type in the Min as 1 and the Max as how many ever books are on your to-read shelf. Or you can enter a smaller number as the Max in order to always pick books that have been on your TBR shelf for longer.
3. Scroll down to the book matching the number Random.org picks.
4. Link up to your Random Reads post (below). If you choose more than one book per month, be sure to put a number by your name in the list so it doesn’t look like a duplicate.
5. Read and be merry. 

If you’re not on Goodreads just pick a random book from your list in whatever way you want to do it. You can use the method I used above or even just close your eyes and point randomly at a book on your bookshelf if you want (spin the bottle style). lol

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For February, I picked 5 books off of my physical bookshelves.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Sweep Vol I by Cate Tiernan

Possession by Nancy Holder

When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

I was thrilled with all of these!  And also nice variety! Sweep is actually a bind up of the first 3 books in the series.  They are about 200 pages each, so I'm not sure if I'll get all 3 read, but I'll definitely read the first book!

Then I picked a book off of my Nook

Here by Denise Grover Swank

And I picked a book off of my Kindle account

Mer by Jade M Phillips

So, I have plenty to read for books on my shelves!  Wish me luck!

Book Haul 2/3/13

Time for another book haul!  I actually did not buy any physical books in the last few weeks or so, but I got plenty of ebooks, eARCs, and library books!

Here we go!

Books for Review

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Ivy In Bloom: Poems of Spring by from Great Poets and Writers of the Past

The Orphan and the Thief by M.L. LaGette

The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

The Truth About Brave by Karen Hood-Caddy

Saving Quinton by Jessica Sorenson

The Paper Sword by Robert Priest

Sunrise by Mike Mullin

eBooks

The Woodlands by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Feed by Mira Grant

Out of Time by Monique Martin

The Emporer's Edge by Linday Burokers

Library Books

Altered by Gennifer Albin

Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett

A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Renegade by J.A. Souders

Whew!  What a haul!  Now I just need to find some more time to read them all!

What did you get this week?

Indelible by Dawn Metcalf

Goodreads
384 pages, YA Paranormal/Fantasy
The Twixt #1
My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

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

My 2 cents

This book was an interesting spin on fairies and the fey. Joy has "the sight" and sees Ink in a crowded club. To protect her, Ink actually tries to blind her (?!) but fails, and instead, marks her as his. So Joy is forced to play the dangerous game of his liaison to the fey so she doesn't wind up dead.

This version of the fey makes me think a little of Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey, just in their ruthlessness. Being Ink's liaison doesn't completely protect Joy, she is kidnapped a few times and brutally injured. There was always something going on, and Joy was in constant danger, which kept the plot moving fairly quickly. I was completely hooked through most of the story.

The book does have its flaws, but they were pretty minor to me. There are a lot of cliches, which is to be expected in a fairy story. The biggest one being that even though Ink tried to blind Joy, she falls in love with him. Let's see, where have we heard that before?

But overall there was plenty of action and mystery going on, and a few big twists towards the end. I was expecting the main one, but it played out a little differently than I though it was going to, so I give the author extra points for her creativity! If you enjoy books about the fey, you will love this one!

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Goodreads
372 pages, YA Contemporary
Standalone
My rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

My 2 cents

When I saw that Laurie Halse Anderson had a new book out, I knew I had to read it!  Luckily, my library got it in right away so I checked it out, and I am thrilled I did!

There wasn't a lot of fan fair with this new release, which kind of surprised me.  Laurie Halse Anderson is a brilliant writer, and pretty well known.  I honstly didn't know she had a new book out until it was out and I started seeing it a little bit on the blogosphere.  

This is a pretty dark and deep contemporary story about a teenage girl, Haley, and her father, Andy.  Andy is a veteran from the Iraqi war, and is suffering from PTSD.  Haley is more of the adult in the relationship.  To make things even harder for her, Haley has been homeschooled for the last several years, when Andy decides she needs a proper education, and enrolls her in high school.  Haley sees high school as a joke, and just a way to get kids to conform to society.  

What I loved best about this story was that Haley's view of high school mirrored my own while I was in it.  I had extremely different circumstances, but I could really relate to her in that way.  I had no way of relating to her dealing with her dad.  This part of the story is very sad and somewhat depressing, but very real.  This is a subject that is not written about much, especially in YA.  I really tip my hat to Laurie for having the courage to tell it.

I also loved the realness of the characters.  Every single one had their own voice, and I was easily able to get lost in Haley's story.  Her boyfriend, Finn, was just plain awesome.  He was everyone Haley needed, but still had his own secrets and flaws.


The ending was heart wrenching, freaky, and just plain emotional.  I really loved how we mostly got a happy ending out of it, but it was still realistic.  This was an amazing read, and one of my favorite contemporaries ever!

Going Rogue by Robin Benway

Goodreads
320 pages, YA Contemporary, Espionage
Also Known As #2
My rating: 4.5 stars

Synopsis

Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux. Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names. Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.

My 2 cents

The follow up sequel to Also Known As was just as good, if not better! I love this fun world that Benway has created for the reader, and I absolutely love the headstrong MC, Maggie. I also really the supporting characters of Jesse, Roux, and Angelo. 

In this adventure, Maggie's parent's reputation and the family's very way of life is on the line. Maggie must prove her parent's innocence, or they will be kicked out of The Collective. But what starts as a seemly easy case for Maggie soon becomes quite complicated.

What really loved about this one was how high the stakes became. It really ratches up the tension for the reader, as well as the relationships with Maggie and her parents, as well as her relationships with Roux and Jesse. Also the setting felt more "spy." It starts out in NYC, but the last half of the book takes place in Paris, which was so cool! We also get to meet an entire new cast of spy characters, which was really fun!

I'm not sure if Benway has planned any more books for this series, but I'm hoping she does! I really want some more Maggie, Jesse, and Roux!

Book Haul 1/18

This was a pretty quiet week in books for me, although I got some books I am really excited about!  

Review Books

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes

Emilie and The Sky World by Martha Wells

The Garden of Darkness by Gillian Murray Kendall

Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg 

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Truth Against the World by Sarah Jamilla Stephenson

Grim by Christine Johnson

The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow

Four Seconds to Lose by K.A. Tucker

Fire and Flood by Victoria Scott

Ebooks

Destiny by Cindy Ray Hale

Spychild by Harper Alexander

Library Books

Pantomime by Laura Lam
Shadowplay by Laura Lam
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorenson
Teardrop by Lauren Kate

Purchased Books

Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
Horde by Ann Aguirre

What did you get in books this week?

Sometimes Never, Sometimes Always by Elissa Janine Hoole

Goodreads
349 pages, YA Contemporary
Standalone
My rating: 3.5 stars

Synopsis

Cassandra fears rocking the family boat. Instead, she sinks it. Assigned by her English teacher to write a poem that reveals her true self, Cassandra Randall is stuck. Her family's religion is so overbearing, she can NEVER write about who she truly is. So Cass does what any self-respecting high school girl would do: she secretly begins writing a tarot-inspired advice blog. When Drew Godfrey, an awkward outcast with unwashed hair, writes to her, the situation spirals into what the school calls "a cyberbullying crisis" and what the church calls "sorcery." Cass wants to be the kind of person who sticks up for the persecuted, who protects the victims the way she tries to protect her brother from the homophobes in her church. But what if she's just another bully? What will it take for her to step up and tell the truth?

My 2 cents

This was definitely one the most interesting contemporaries I've read this year. It focuses on Cass and her very religious family. I have very strong feelings about religion in society in general, and this book just confirmed those feelings. I didn't love it, but that may have been a more personal taste kind of thing.

The book itself is good--the writing was excellent, and I wasn't bored at anytime through it. This book might have gotten 4 stars except for the one thing that really irked me--the perpetration of the Tarot. I myself am not Wiccan, but I have used the Tarot for years. And this is one of those subjects that's really hard to portray in a YA novel, so I will forgive the author that. The Tarot was either portrayed as evil Devil's work, or something really silly, kind of like a fortune teller's game. I don't want to get all preachy, but neither is correct. 

Moving on! The part of the novel that had my glued was Cass's older brother, who is gay and trying desperately to hide it from their parents. Cass and her brother are extremely close, and she worries about him. The story has a lot of bullying going on, and I loved how the author took Cass's character, and made her a standby bully with the outcast, Drew, or standby victim, concerning her brother. Cass was really on a tightrope, and the bullying part of the story felt very realistic. This is what made the book so relevant to today's world. I think a lot of people are standby bullies or victims and I loved how the novel showed this in a realistic way.