Review: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan
507 pages
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Norse Mythology
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: I bought it!
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating:

Goodreads Summary: Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . .

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My Review

I am a huge Rick Riordan fan. Percy Jackson is a character that will always stay with me. I absolutely love his witty, funny, and adventurous novels, and The Sword of Summer turned out to be exactly that.

What somewhat started out as the usual quest type novel, turned into yet another unique and fun young adult book by Riordan that just so happens to feature the Norse gods this time around. Even though it was formulaic like the Percy Jackson books, it still had some very unique and funny surprises. It was way more unique that I thought it would be.

Even though I shouldn't have, I may have compared Magnus to Percy, but even though I did, it really didn't matter. Sure they are both funny and cute, but they are both different in wonderful ways. I loved that Magnus was his own person and was different enough from Riordan's other characters to keep it fresh. All of the minor characters in The Sword of Summer also stood out on their own, and I loved their endearing demeanors and brave souls.

I was not disappointed by the start of this new series by Riordan. I appreciated it and look forward to reading the rest of the books. I think all of Riordan's fans will like this new series, and it doesn't hurt that the main character (as we found out in the previous series and by his name) is related to Annabeth, which will hopefully mean our beloved Percy and Annabeth may make appearances in this new series. One can hope.

The Bottom Line: The Sword of Summer is yet another wonderfully adventurous novel by Riordan. I think his fans will approve even if his books are similar, because they are just that entertaining.

Waiting on Wednesday #15: The Forbidden Orchid

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Because... I like this author and the cover & story caught my eye

The Forbidden Orchid by Sharon Biggs Waller

Release Date: February 2, 2016

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Goodreads Summary: Staid, responsible Elodie Buchanan is the eldest of ten sisters living in a small English market town in 1861. The girls' father is a plant hunter, usually off adventuring through the jungles of China.

Then disaster strikes: Mr. Buchanan fails to collect an extremely rare and valuable orchid, meaning that he will be thrown into debtors' prison and the girls will be sent to the orphanage or the poorhouse. Elodie's father has one last chance to return to China, find the orchid, and save the family—and this time, thanks to an unforeseen twist of fate, Elodie is going with him. Elodie has never before left her village, but what starts as fear turns to wonder as she adapts to seafaring life aboard the tea clipper The Osprey, and later to the new sights, dangers, and romance of China.

But even if she can find the orchid, how can she find herself now that staid, responsible Elodie has seen how much the world has to offer?

What are you waiting on?

TTT #50: Creepiest Covers

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

These 10 book covers give me the chills

Source

Review: Dreamland by Robert L. Anderson

Dreamland by Robert L. Anderson (Sept. 2015)
336 pages
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Other
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: The library.
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating:

Goodreads Summary: Odea Donahue has been able to travel through people’s dreams since she was six years old. Her mother taught her the three rules of walking:

Never interfere.
Never be seen.
Never walk the same person’s dream more than once.

Dea has never questioned her mother, not about the rules, not about the clocks or the mirrors, not about moving from place to place to be one step ahead of the unseen monsters that Dea’s mother is certain are right behind them.

Then a mysterious new boy, Connor, comes to town, and Dea finally starts to feel normal. As Connor breaks down the walls that she’s had up for so long, he gets closer to learning her secret. For the first time she wonders if that’s so bad. But when Dea breaks the rules, the boundary between worlds begins to deteriorate. How can she know what’s real and what’s not?

From talented debut author Robert L. Anderson comes a stunning, complex, and imaginative story of the fine line between our dreams and reality.

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My Review

I had a really hard time writing this review for Dreamland. Perhaps I had a hard time writing my review because of my own personal issues (It seems that I am in a slight reviewing slump), or perhaps it was also because my feelings for this book are all over the place. I guess I'm just going to break it down into nice little categories.

The Writing: It seemed a little choppy to me. This is also a personal prefernece.
The Characters: Likeable and also aggravating. Dea is a likeable and enjoyable enough MC, but her mom fits perfectly into the young adult mom trope, where she hides important information from her daughter to keep her safe/because she thinks it is for the best, but really it just makes everything worse/that much harder.
The Setting: The dream world was intense and dark. I loved it and yet I wanted more. (I think the pacing has something to do with my uneasiness of the dream stuff.) I did like the small town setting a lot.
The Story: Hmmm.... I can't really go into it much, but I sometimes felt disjointed from what was going on.
The Pacing: Was on point and also wasn't. Mostly it was good enough to keep me curious, but sometimes waiting for the details of the dream world to unfold was horrible.
The Romance: This was average.
A Standalone?: This book would make a good first book in a duology.

The Bottom Line: I can't really say more without giving away a lot of the interesting little surprises Dreamland has in store for its reader. I can say that I was somewhat disappointed, but I still did enjoy this quick read. The cover still makes me smile.

Read-a-thon Accomplished

A few days ago I decided to do my very own personal read-a-thon. Read my original post here. So yesterday I did it. I had the day off and I read my little heart out. Here is what went down.

THE DETAILS

Start: Sat. Oct. 24th at 9:00 am
Finish: Sun. Oct 25th at 2:00 am
Total read-a-thon time: 17 hours
Time Actually Read: 10ish hours (I was curious so I actually timed this.) I could have read more but I had to eat, I was dog sitting, my new couch came, and I did want to spend dinner with my husband, but I still read a LOT!
Original Reading Goal: Two novels and Two Graphic Novels
Actual Books Read: Two Graphic Novels and One Novel (Which was longer than I thought, but really good.) Pictured Below (I enjoyed all three!)
Total Number of Pages Read: 801 pages
Would I do it again? Of course. Do I have any time in the near future to do so? Not really. :(

I hope all my lovely readers has a chance to do their very own personal readathon at some point! I know it is hard to find time, but it is worth it.

How I felt after the read-a-thon...

I Feel Like Gabbing Today - I'm doing my own read-a-thon!

** I want to share with you the very random thoughts that pop into my head and chat with you about them. Many are bookish thoughts and many are not. I feel like I don't have enough discussion type posts on the blog so I am giving this a whirl. Some days I will talk about a specific topic and sometimes I will just throw some random thoughts at you. So please sit back, relax, and take a second to chat with me today.

Read-A-Thons are My Jam

I love read-a-thons! There is just something about the challenge of reading as many books as I possibly can in a given amount of time that makes me swoon. It doesn't hurt to have a group of people who love reading as much as me participating as well. I really do enjoy the camaraderie. I also love mini challenges and everything else that happens during a read-a-thon, but mostly I like to...

Source

Bout of Books is my all time favorite read-a-thon! One whole week of reading, twitter chats, mini challenges, and even more reading?! Sign me up! I am sure most of you have also heard of the Dewey 24 hour read-a-thon. Sadly, I am never able to participate because I work Saturdays, and that was no exception this year. But by crazy chance and miracle (or because I follow her blog) I stumbled upon Bookish's blog post about her experience participating in Dewey and her tips of participating in a read-a-thon. This was a sign. I realized that I should just make my own read-a-thon since I ironically just so happen to have this Saturday off work. 

I have to work this coming Friday night and Sunday, but I have ALL day Saturday to read. The only thing I have planned for this weekend is being home for when my couch is delivered, that is it. Even my husband has work and will be gone a good chunk of the day. That means almost NO DISTRACTIONS all day. Could I have a more perfect opportunity to do my very own read-a-thon? I don't think so. (Days off are rare as I'm sure most of you know.) If you want to read all day Saturday with me you are more than welcome to join in on the fun. OR if you are busy you can pick your very own read-a-thon day sometime in the near future and read your heart out when it works best for you.

When I am Reading

Source

THIS WEEKEND

Start: Sat. Oct. 24th at 9:00 am

Finish: Sun. Oct 25th at 2:00 am
Total Reading Time: 17 Hours
Total Books I Want to Read: Two Novels & Two Graphic Novels
My Level of Excitement to Begin: Off the charts!
The Amount of Fun to be had: Infinite

What I am Reading

My Back-Up Option

If you want to read all day with me on Saturday then please leave me a comment so when I take a quick break I can check in with you! If you can't join me this weekend, that is totally understandable since this is last minute and not really an official thing at all. I just hope you find some time to have your very own personal read-a-thon! Or maybe you don't like participating in read-a-thons because of the pressure or for another reason. I would love to hear your thoughts on this week's topic below! Happy reading! :D

Short & Sweet Review: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
384 pages
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: The library.
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating:

Goodreads Summary: Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

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My Review

Dumplin' has been praised by many, and now it is time to add my admiration to the collection. Why should you read Dumplin'? Because...

Will is a character many can relate to, and she is impossible not to like. 

A novel full of friendship, loyalty, hardships, and what it really means to be a teenager, is a perfect addition to the young adult contemporary novels out there and one fans are sure to enjoy.

The best and the hardest part about reading Dumplin' was its frankness with many issues teens face today, and many I myself faced in the past.

Dumplin' is well written and full of laughter and love. Don't miss this gem!