Review: Crown of Midnight by: Sarah J. Maas (2013)

Crown of Midnight by: Sarah J. Maas (2013)

420 pages

Genre: YA/Fantasy

 Source: I purchased this book for my e-reader.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old
assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

My Review

   

*Trying to steady my breathing and stop fangirling for two seconds so I can write this review.

Crown of Midnight was everything I was hoping it would be after just recently finishing Throne of Glass. I fell right back into Celaena's world, it was like I had never left. I do however want you to tread cautiously, you won’t put this down once you start and you may even forget to eat and sleep. Crown of Midnight won’t disappoint, if anything it will make you love this series even more. I sound pretty coherent as I write this which is surprising considering I totally was freaking out while reading this entire book, especially when it comes to a certain swoon worthy man, and now I will take a deep breath and continue on.

I still stand by the fact that Celaena is one of the best, if not the best, kick ass heroine I have ever encountered in a young adult novel. Crown of Midnight gave me the chance to explore more of Celaena and the other characters in the novel making me feel even closer to them than before. I love her independence and her love of food among other things. I love her strength and her heart. I got to witness and see another side of Celaena and even when she would be a little frustrating I was still understanding to her situation. Relationships grow and simmer among every single character in this book from romantic relationships to family and friendships.

Crown of Midnight was also non-stop awesome. There is an amazing fight scene that I want to re-read. There are moments of shocking reveals that will have your mouth hanging open. There was the biggest heart wrenching scene that had me crushed and despretly trying to read faster to see what would happen next. I love the way Maas writes and how vivid every single scene is, making it even easier to completely forget about the real world while reading. I will warn you that the ending will have you very impatiently waiting for the next book, but I’m sure you probably expect that going in.

Crown of Midnight won’t take you long to read and I guarantee you will love it if you liked Throne of Glass. Seriously, if you haven’t read these books yet you should because you are missing out. I’m not even a huge fan of fantasy but I was captivated none the less. Now go read Crown of Midnight!

Check out my review of the first book Throne of Glass!

Top Bookish News of The Past Week

Here are all of the top bookish stories, blog posts, pictures, and videos I found this past week. I put this post up every Sunday so come back again next week for more bookish awesomeness. 

Click away and enjoy your Sunday!

ARTICLES

E.L. James, author of the Fifty Shades trilogy, has apparently made wine to go along with her books. Okay then. You have to check out the wine website, not to purchase the wine so much as to laugh.

Stephen King has written a sequel to The Shinning. This article talks all about it. Will you be reading it?

Are you a fan of The Wizard of Oz? Then you don't want to miss this! There will be three digital novellas series published titled Dorothy Must Die. It sounds very interesting.

You have to take a second to look at these mug shots of literary characters in honor of banned books week!

Epic Reads continues to be awesome with their instructions on how to make your own Use In Case Of  Feels Tissue Box.

BLOG POSTS

Writer of Wrings discusses how amazing a slow burn romance is, way better than insta-love if you ask me. She also includes links to her friends post on the topic. Check these out!

If I were you, I would take a second to look at Parajunkee's funny post The Ten Benefits of Plagiarizing Your Next Novel.

PHOTOS

Review: Wavecrossed by: Andrea Colt

Wavecrossed by: Andrea Colt (2013)

200ish e-book pages

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Source: I received a free copy of this book from the author for my honest review. Thanks Andrea!

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: A young-adult paranormal novel about selkies, tasers, kissing and secrets.

To Cassandra Kelleher, trust is a dirty word.

A teenage selkie who grew up on land, all she wants is to free her family from the man who stole their sealskins long ago. With her twin brother Brennan losing hope and her window of opportunity disappearing like the beach at high tide, she’ll try anything.

Before long, however, Cassandra can’t tell whether her biggest threat is the man holding her family captive, a classmate who’s discovered her secret, or her own paranoia. Battling broken friendships and alarming romantic entanglements, Cassandra finds that trust could be the key to winning her family’s freedom … or losing her own.

My Review

     

The synopsis of Wavecrossed may put you off from reading it simply because it is a book about selkies (I've never run across one before), but don’t be afraid of something you don’t know, selkies are pretty cool and Wavecrossed will delight you. I enjoyed every second of my time while reading Wavecrossed. I’ve never read a book about selkies, but I’m really glad I got over my fear of the unknown and embraced this wonderful new mythology. Sure some of it was a little weird at first, but it grew on me, and this story is one worth discovering. It’s full of laughs, cuteness, uniqueness, and mysteriousness.

The plot (just in general) and its pacing is magnificent. There are no huge info dumps, everything you need to know about selkies and the main character Cassandra’s family history are handled nicely. Another great quirk, there is a good amount of interesting surprises and it’s a short and fast paced read.  I also really enjoyed the fact that teenage romance isn't the main focus and was handled pretty well making Wavecrossed a nice change from the norm. I was only bothered a tiny bit by two little things. There is some corniness throughout the novel with the abundance of nautical terms, but for the most part it works. The only thing that bothered me a little about that was the fake curse words. There was a tiny plot hole that irked me, but it was quickly pushed out of my mind and easily written off as me over analyzing. Therefore the impressiveness of Wavecrossed outweighs the two tiny hiccups I came across.

All of the characters are interesting and I cared about them, which is a big selling point for me. Cassandra is overly paranoid but it makes sense, plus she is charming and actually reminds me of a real teenager, besides the fact that she is a selkie of course. Her brother has more common sense and is just as likable. I love the brother-sister interactions in
Wavecrossed and the interesting family dynamics. There are also a lot of minor characters that are just as good as the main characters. Oh and the evil man that is holding her family captive is a great villain, he is actually complex and I love that.

I recommend that you read this one. It will be worth your time and it’s very unique. If you have yet to discover the interesting lives of selkies then you should give Wavecrossed a chance. This would be even more fun to read on the beach and since the summer is almost over you should read it sooner rather than later. Plus, there is going to be a sequel that I can’t wait to get my hands on!

**I received a free copy of this book from the author for my honest review. Thanks Andrea!

Top Bookish News of The Past Week

Here are all of the top bookish stories, blog posts, pictures, and videos I found this past week. I put this post up every Sunday so come back again next week for more bookish awesomeness. 

Click away and enjoy your Sunday!

ARTICLES

Did you know that these authors' works were initially rejected?! I'm really glad they ended up getting published. 

You have to take a second to read this hilarious but creepy list of young adult books that will screw up your life. This list of course includes The Hunger Games, but it also includes The Babysitters Club.

The 20 Stages of Reading is a unique comic that shouldn't be missed. 

I know we have all seen book marketing and even take part in it, but I've never seen anything like this unique $5 book marketing website before! 

BLOG POSTS

Do you ever feel pressured or worried about reading a book that has been recommended to you? Check out Read My Breath Away's blog post about this topic that I'm sure everyone has encountered. 

Goodreads has tightened their review guidelines! I've seen a few people who think this is great and ones that think it's not. Here is Bookish Treasure's opinion. What is yours? In brief, I really don't think the guidelines are that bad and may actually help with some of the drama going on lately. But I also believe in the right to say whatever you want. The shelf names being a problem is what really bothers me with the guidelines that I don't necessarily agree with, but I can understand why they wouldn't allow a book review that doesn't have anything to do with the book and is not actually a book review but just bashing the author not being allowed. I do think people should be notified if any of their reviews/shelves are being deleted. From what I gather from the guidelines goodreads is focusing on both readers and authors and trying to prevent bashing from occurring, but if you are writing a book review you can rate as negative or as positive as you want on the actual book. In the end everyone has their own opinion on this subject matter and I respect whatever it is.

PHOTO

P.S. Don't forget it's banned books week!! I want this shirt!

Review: Conjured by: Sarah Beth Durst

Conjured by: Sarah Beth Durst (2013)

368 pages

Genre: YA/Supernatural

 Source: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

My Review

Magic, memory loss, witness protection, and a super cute guy is pretty much everything I could want in a book. Too bad this book was such a disaster that it didn't even matter that it had all those things in it. Conjured just wasn't my cup of tea, others may enjoy it, but in no way was it for me.

The beginning of this book was incredibly slow and painfully dull for me. But since it was a review book I powered through, and low and behold it got magical. (Don’t get your hopes up; it was only magical very briefly and for a few instances.) Some of the magic scenes described in this book were breathtaking. There were also a lot of fun scenes in the public library where Eve is working. Who doesn't love when a book semi-takes place in a library? On the other hand, these two things were literally the only good parts about this book. Everything else from the boring beginning to the very lame/unbelievable ending made this one of the most unmagical books I have ever read.

Every aspect of this book that is mentioned in the synopsis is very poorly executed. The characters were undeniably forgettable. Eve doesn’t know herself and is suffering from memory loss, I thought this would be really interesting and was eagerly waiting for her to recall her memories, but the times when she does were not fulfilling.  Also, Eve’s “aunt” is so ridiculous and rude that I can’t stand her. Not to mention the world building that didn't really exist. I didn’t get enough information about the witness protection program that I would have liked, heck I didn’t get enough information about the magical elements in this book too, (and other things that I can't mention because they would ruin the plot) really I couldn't get lost in the world because I had no idea what type of world it really was. As the story progresses the plot gets weirder and weirder, but at least it actually starts to go somewhere after the very dull beginning. Then when we get to the big reveal... it was way too strange for my taste and was a huge let down. I wanted to stop reading it immediately. The only reason I kept going was because I only had like 30 pages left.

I guess it is safe to say that I won’t be reading this book again and probably won’t read any more books by this author. I encourage you to pass on Conjured. The synopsis sounds amazing, but was just really misleading.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.

TTT #12: Top Ten Books On My Fall 2013 TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.  

Half of my list includes books that I really want to read that are being released this fall and the other half are older ones that I have yet to read. I have decided not to include any books that I have to read for review because that just didn't seem as fun. Instead I focused on the kind of books I love to read when the weather gets a little chilly. Each book cover is linked up to their goodreads page.

Top Five New Books I Plan To Read This Fall  

1.  The House of Hades by: Rick Riordan (Oct. 8) 

2.  Allegiant by: Veronica Roth (Oct. 22)

3.  Not a Drop to Drink by: Mindy McGinnis (Sept. 24)

  

4.  3:59 by: Gretchen McNeil (Sept. 17)

5.  Premeditated by: Josin L. McQuein (Oct. 8)

Top Five Older Books I Plan To Read This Fall

1.  The Storyteller by: Jodi Picoult

 2.  Attachments by: Rainbow Rowell

 3.  The Returned by: Jason Mott

 4.  Defiance by: C.J. Redwine 

 5.  Also Known As by: Robin Benway

What books do you plan to read this fall? I would love to know, maybe I'm missing a really good one. Comment below and leave your TTT links. :)

Review: Sky on Fire by: Emmy Laybourne

Sky on Fire (Monument 14 #2) by: Emmy Laybourne (2013)

212 pages

Genre: YA/Survival

 Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive and worked together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.

Knowing that the chemical weapons saturating the air outside will turn him into a bloodthirsty rage monster, Dean decides to stay in the safety of the store with Astrid and some of the younger kids. But their sanctuary has already been breached once. . . .

Meanwhile, Alex, determined to find their parents, heads out into the darkness and devastation with Niko and some others in a recently repaired school bus. If they can get to Denver International Airport, they might be evacuated to safety. But the outside world is even worse than they expected. . . .

       

My Review

Things get even more crazy and some new characters emerge in Sky on Fire, the sequel to Monument 14. Sorry this review is so short but this is what happens when I write a review a long time after I have finished the book. I apologize, I’m trying to get back in the blogging game. (I really need to make better notes.) I can tell you that I enjoyed this book and that it was a quick and intense/exciting read.

Sky on Fire held my attention from the very first sentence to the last page, it really was a page turner without a dull moment. Alex’s opening letter was depressing yet funny, and having both brothers’ point of views was awesome, they were done really well. Both situations, the one at the super store and the one on the bus, were equally horrible and equally captivating. I don't think the older brother, Dean, always speaks or acts like the older one, which was sometimes annoying, but it did make sense a little since his younger brother is the genius. There are also a few stupid moments where I felt like the kids were not thinking before acting and should know better by now, but overall that didn't keep me from enjoying Sky on Fire because there was enough action and other insane things going on to hold my interest. The ending was non-frustrating, which was rather nice, but it did leave it open for a possible third book. I’m not sure what the author plans to do, but if she wrote another one I would probably read it.

Major cover love again for this book, it is just as good if not better than the first one.

In the end, if you read the first book and enjoyed it then you should go ahead and read this one, it will be worth it. Sky on Fire is a suspenseful survivor story. So take a second to consider reading it if you are a fan of survival stories. If you have yet to read the first book you can check out my review here to help you make your decision.

Top Bookish News of The Past Week

Here are all of the top bookish stories, blog posts, pictures, and videos I found this past week. I put this post up every Sunday so come back again next week for more bookish awesomeness. Click away and enjoy your Sunday!

Sorry I didn't have a Sunday post last week but I was celebrating my one year wedding anniversary! We had a great time.

ARTICLES

Want to see something cute? 15 Types of Readers, As Told By Cats and Dogs

I honestly can't believe that 71% (I thought this number would be slightly smaller) of travelers prefer print books over e-books. I know this survey wasn't conducted in the states but still. I love print books over e-books but when it comes to traveling I would rather have an e-book.

Julianne Moore was cast as the Hunger Games President Coin. I think it will work. :)

J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. announced a new movie franchise that Rowling will be writing based on her book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!!!!!!  My mouth hung open when I read this in disbelief. I think this will be amazing! It may not feature Harry Potter but still. Pretty crazy news.

A librarian saved $1 Million to give back to libraries. I am astounded by this woman and I give her mad props and am saddened by hear death. It proves that there are still some amazing people out there. Libraries are important and a great and important part of the community.

BLOG POSTS

You should really take a few minutes to read The Book Addict's Guide's blog post about making goodreads work for you. She made a fun infographic about how people use goodreads based off a survey she did, and who doesn't love a good infographic? Also, I found a couple of new things about goodreads that I love and didn't even know about before.

Sometimes it gets frustrating when young adult books don't swear but can talk about difficult problems. I'm not saying they need to be filled with curse words, but it makes it more believable when the 17-year-old characters drops a bad word when they are in a crazy situation. Lili's Reflections wrote an interesting post about this topic.

Do you ever get confused when trying to figure out what genre you are reading? Writer of Wrongs explains them pretty darn well.

I'm a pretty fast reader but not nearly fast enough. You should really check out The Fiction Conniption's post featuring speed reading.

PICTURE

About a month ago I finally got a new job after my husband and I moved! Although it is only part time, I was lucky enough to snag a job at my local library (yes, the one with the drive-up window) as a page. I'm loving it. As soon as I told my friend about this she sent me this picture so I had to share with you all. 

Romantic Comedy Mini Reviews: How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True & I've Got Your Number

How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True by: Sarah Strohmeyer (2013)

295 pages

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Genre: YA/ Romantic Comedy

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: From Sarah Strohmeyer, author of Smart Girls Get What They Want, comes this romantic comedy about one girl's summer job from hell. Think The Devil Wears Prada set in Disney World.

When cousins Zoe and Jess land summer internships at the Fairyland Kingdom theme park, they are sure they've hit the jackpot. With perks like hot Abercrombie-like Prince Charmings and a chance to win the coveted $25,000 Dream & Do grant, what more could a girl want?

Once Zoe arrives, however, she's assigned to serve "The Queen"-Fairyland's boss from hell. From spoon-feeding her evil lapdog caviar, to fetching midnight sleeping tonics, Zoe fears she might not have what it takes to survive the summer, much less win the money.

Soon backstabbing interns, a runaway Cinderella, and cutthroat competition make Zoe's job more like a nightmare than a fairy tale. What will happen when Zoe is forced to choose between serving The Queen and saving the prince of her dreams?

My Review: How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True is a genuine young adult romantic comedy with a mystery thrown in. I was laughing through pretty much the entire novel. Disasters are abundant in the Fairytale Land theme park. Who knew that so much work and craziness goes on behind the scenes of a theme park? Some of the story was a little annoying but mostly it was just cute fun. The ending was fantastic! Zoe is a true friend and has such a pure heart. Her cousin and friend Jess added a little something extra. I really like how much the book focused on friendships more than anything else. There was romance too but it was in the background, a slight love triangle between Zoe, the lady in waiting, and a couple of princes. Her summer internship will bring you joy, this I know. Oh and there are fairy tale characters around every corner, for example, there is The Evil Queen who is evil indeed, and maybe a little crazy. 

MY RATING 3.5/5 

I've Got Your Number by: Sophie Kinsella

433 pages

Publisher: The Dial Press

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: I’ve lost it. :( The only thing in the world I wasn’t supposed to lose. My engagement ring. It’s been in Magnus’s family for three generations. And now the very same day his parents are coming, I’ve lost it. The very same day! Do not hyperventilate, Poppy. Stay positive :) !!

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents . . . she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

My Review: I've Got Your Number is a book that will make you giggle the entire time your reading it guaranteed. This is my first Sophie Kinsella novel and I wasn't disappointed, I plan on reading more by her soon. It's the perfect book if you are looking for a light romantic comedy that will lift your spirits and have you cheering for the girl. Poppy is a slightly crazy and charming woman who is in complete panic mode over losing her engagement ring. She was easy to relate to and when she was in panic mode I felt like I was reading a story about my life. :) At times I've Got Your Number went a little too crazy with some really out there scenes for my taste, but it still had me laughing.  Take a break from those dystopian novels or deep thought provoking books and fall into Poppy's kooky life.

MY RATING: 4/5

Review: The Loop by: Shandy Lawson

The Loop by: Shandy Lawson (2013)

208 pages

Genre: YA

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: Ben and Maggie have met, fallen in love, and died together countless times. Over
the course of two pivotal days—both the best and worst of their lives—they struggle again and again to resist the pull of fate and the force of time itself. With each failure, they return to the beginning of their end, a wild road trip that brings them to the scene of their own murders and into the hands of the man destined to kill them.

As time circles back on itself, events become more deeply ingrained, more inescapable for the two kids trapped inside the loop. The closer they come to breaking out, the tighter fate’s clutches seem to grip them. They devise a desperate plan to break free and survive the days ahead, but what if Ben and Maggie’s only shot at not dying is surviving apart?

My Review

The synopsis of The Loop held so much promise, but that promise was broken not even more than a couple of chapters into the novel. At first I was really into The Loop and was enjoying it, but then I got bored, extremely bored and irritated. I’m just going to tell you right up front, don’t waste your time on this one, but if you do at least it’s only 208 pages long so if you end up not liking it you won't lose a lot of time. 

I didn’t care about Maggie or Ben, I didn’t believe in their relationship, and I just straight up didn’t even care that they kept dying in this loop they are having to relive.Which sounds horrible, but I’m just telling the truth. I just found them kind of stupid and annoying. Now even though I didn’t like these characters, or at least didn’t care about them, I was still thinking that the interesting concept of being in a time loop and trying to get out of it would keep me intrigued. I’m sure it would be interesting, if as a reader we got to see more than these characters just going through the loop like two whole times. That is not enough, the synopsis said they have been through this loop countless times and yet we only get to see it a couple of times with very small and not very interesting changes, basically making the loops just seem annoyingly repetitive.

I'm giving The Loop two stars instead of one because there were still a few small times when this book really showed its uniqueness and managed to make me feel a very tiny something.

So there you have it. I advise you to skip this one, it isn’t nearly as good as the synopsis makes you believe it will be. Then again I have seen some positive reviews on goodreads so you can always check those out before making your decision to skip this one or read it.

ARC Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by: Holly Black

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by: Holly Black (Sept. 3, 2013)

432 pages

Genre: YA/Vampires

Source: A free copy from NetGalley for my honest review.

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

My Review    

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is one of those books that you are either going to like or just not.  I don’t think there really is an in between. I am a fan of vampire novels and Holly Black so I decided to give it a chance. I enjoyed this interesting take on vampires living openly in society and are for the most part are being confined in Coldtowns where some humans also live, I mean they need food (although most of the humans that live there want to live there hoping to be turned into a vampire), but the politics behind all that you will have to discover by reading the book yourself because I don't want to get into all of that here. But even with its uniqueness I also had some issues with the book as well. Overall I liked it, but I wish I could have loved it. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a dark and twisty tale.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown opens with a bloody scene and the race to survival for Tana begins. It’s too bad this race isn’t as fast paced once you get further into the book as the opening chapters makes you believe. It’s a little slow at times and there are flashbacks that I normally enjoy in books but for some reason they didn’t work here. Instead of adding more to the story it made it choppy and they were just annoying.

Tana is an interesting and complex character. I enjoyed watching her try to make decisions throughout the book on how to handle the situation she is put in after she wakes up at the party with just about everyone dead. The two males she is on the run with added a nice little touch of conflict. I can’t say that any of the characters are too memorable though.

The biggest turn off for me while reading was that there is of course a vampire-human type romance that verges on insta-love and with how much the human dislikes vampires this had me scratching my head. Since I found this book to be more unique when dealing with vampires I was hoping this romance wouldn’t be in it, taking away some of its uniqueness. Especially since they mention in the book that it’s crazy how vampires are romanticized.  

In the end it was a good read (there is a pretty darn good twist near the end) although nowhere near as awesome as I thought it was going to be. I say read it if you like vampire stories, especially ones that have romance. If you are over the whole vampire thing then I doubt you will like this one.

**I received a free copy from NetGalley for my honest review.

Top Bookish News of The Past Week

Here are all of the top bookish stories, blog posts, pictures, and videos I found this past week. I put this post up every Sunday so come back again next week for more bookish awesomeness.

Click away and enjoy your Sunday!

I didn't have a bookish news post last week due to the fact that I was in Vegas on vacation. Don't worry though, I'm back and have brought you a ton of goodies this week!!

ARTICLES

Have you heard of the website moviepilot? If not you should check it out. It has a whole section with updated news on book to movie adaptions.

USA Today

Okay guys, this is my favorite bookish news this week, besides the trailers below of course. Adults are getting a celebrity coloring book full of sexy male celebs. I wonder how much they are going to charge for that. I'm not even sure I have words for this little piece of news, except laughter. The best part, it's called "Color Me Swoon." I'm thinking teens may find this to be awesome.



Want a sneak peak of Allegiant by Veronica Roth? I know you do!

Travelodge has recently released a list of books left behind in its UK franchises. I'm actually sad so many people leave behind books in their hotel rooms, but then again maybe the person who finds it will enjoy the book and it really does spread the book joy. Or maybe the book was just crap.

They are going to add "twerking" to the Oxford Dictionary. I'm not sure I have words for this and I didn't even know what this was until I watched the VMAs, which I am trying to block out. (Except for the very short yet amazing Nsync reunion.)

If you want a good laugh read 20 of The Biggest Dick Moves in Literature. This article is so true.

BLOG POSTS

There is a new feature over at Bookish Comforts, Piece of Cake. This week Bookish Comforts offers great advice on how not to receive those pesky gmail emails saying you received a new comment on your blog when in fact it is only your own that you just posted. I have yet to change this in my email but I plan to thanks to Bookish Comforts.

There are many times when I read a book that is getting a ton of positive feedback and a lot of attention and I just don't like it. I tend to wonder if something is wrong with me. Luckily I discovered that I am not alone, Reading the Best of the Best has a great post up this week that discusses this.

I really enjoyed Bookish Treasures' post on what she thinks authors should do when writing review requests. What frustrates me the most is not getting addressed by my name or blog title but just as blogger. Or when the requester obviously hasn't read my review policy and sends me a book in a genre I don't review.

Noteworthy blogger tips and advice can be found over at Coffee and Characters. It's a short little post but really worth the read.

Want to spice things up on the blog or just enjoy doing surveys? Here is another cool one this week, The Random # Survey.

VIDEOS

The Divergent trailer is here!! I'm beyond excited.

The Book Theif trailer is here!! It looks good. Although the best part of the book for me was death's narration and I don't know what they are going to do with that in the movie.