Endlessly Launch Event Recap and Giveaway!

When I first heard about the Endlessly Launch Party, I wasn't sure if I would go because Oceanside is about an hour or so from me.  Sometimes after a long day I really don't want to drive an hour only to have to drive another hour back home.  But then I heard that Cynthia Hand was going to be there as well so I knew that I just had to go! The Unearthly series is one of my favorites and even though she lives in Southern California, I had to had the opportunity of meeting her yet!

Also in attendance was Robin LeFevers and Marie Lu! Kiersten was so funny and she went around and introduced the whole group of authors to everyone! They answered a few questions, gave a few things away and then it was time for the signing! This B&N was very organized and gave everyone a number in the order that they bought the book beforehand.  So it was pretty cool! 

And now I have a giveaway for you guys! I was able to get advance copies of Hallowed and Prodigy and because I'm nice, I had them both signed! If you're a big fan of Legend, here's your chance to get Prodigy before it comes out in January!

Rules: 

• Must be 13 or older to enter this giveaway!
• US residents only please!
• Giveaway ends promptly at 11:59pm on Tuesday August 14
• Winner has 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen! 
• Thanks for entering!

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Review: Once

Title: Once
Author: Anna Carey
Series: Eve Trilogy #2
Publisher: Harper Collins
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC from publisher

When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

In this breathless sequel to "Eve," Anna Carey returns to her tale of romance, adventure, and sacrifice in a world that is both wonderfully strange and chillingly familiar.

My thoughts:

Once is the second book in Anna Carey’s Eve trilogy about a dystopian United States that is trying to rebuild the New America after the plague killed off millions of people. In an attempt to repopulate, most girls are sent off to be used a breeders without their choice or consent. Once picks up only a few months after Eve and it is very fast paced right from the beginning!

Eve, the main character learns so much more of the world in Once. There is a big revelation about a quarter of the way in and she has to figure out how to from this new mess that she finds herself in. Even though I really enjoyed the fast paced nature of the novel, it was one dilemma after another, one adventure after another. There was no time in between to process what had just happened. If you wanted to do that you would have to put the book down. So it also seemed like Eve didn’t have any time to process what was happening.

There wasn’t as much Caleb in Once as there was in Eve. He was very elusive, popping up here and there, trying to stay one step ahead of the King. But of course, what’s always most important to him is the safety of Eve and trying to get her out of the King’s clutches. He’s so cute, always worrying about her!

Surprisingly, I really liked Charles who is one of the new characters and there becomes something of a love triangle. I honestly think he has a lot of good intentions and wants to do good for the City of Sand and the New America! He brings up a lot of tough decisions that Eve is going to have to make later! There are also a lot of sad parts that made me wish that Eve could just save everyone! Arden is one of my favorite characters and I hope we see her more in the third novel!

I’m really interested to see how all of this wraps up in Rise, the third novel. It’s nice to know ahead of time that the series is going to end and that it’s not going to be a never ending series (those are the worst sometimes). Overall I really enjoyed Once! I give Once 4 hearts because I thought it was an improvement from Eve and I was always guessing at to what was around the next corner!

Stacking the Shelves (9)

Hey there! Welcome to this week's Stacking the Shelves! This awesome meme is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and we get to show each other the books we acquired this week whether bought, from the library or for review!

I bought so many books this week it was crazy!! The main reason is because I went to three signings this week and it's always nice to show my support to the author and the bookstore by purchasing the book on site.

So here's what I bought this week!

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride

Ghost in the Machine by Patrick Carman

Ruined by Paula Morris

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Endlessly by Kiersten White

Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols

Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Reviewed this Week:

Soulbound by Heather Brewer

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Books I Didn't Finish

Giveaway!

There's only a few days left to enter my box of books giveaway for July! This giveaway end on July 31! But don't worry, I'll be giving away another box of books starting August 1. So don't forget to come back!!

What new books are stacking your shelves this week?

Books I Didn't Finish (2)

Every few months I put together the books I listed as DNF (did not finish) and give a short reason why.  In a perfect world I would like to finish every book I start and love it.  But in reality there are going to be books that just can't keep my attention and I end up putting them down before reaching the last page.  In good news, I've been reading a lot of really great books to this list is going to be relatively short!

Fated by Alyson Noel

I've never been a really big fan of Noel's books but I thought that I would give her another chance with her new series.  I won an ARC of Fated through Goodreads so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. I got though almost 200 pages before I gave up.  I felt like almost nothing had happened in those 200 pages and the whole thing was just weird! I couldn't see where the story was going and hadn't formed any connection with the main character.  It's also possible that I set myself up for failure because I already didn't like her previous series.  I'm not sure, but it's possible.

Tempest Unleashed by Tracy Deebs

I really enjoyed the first book in this series Tempest Rising so when I saw Tempest Unleashed was available on Netgalley, I was super excited! I even signed up to participate in the blog tour before reading the book! Now, in hindsight, that was probably a bad idea. I could not get over the repetitive internal dialogue that the main character was constantly having with herself.  This internal dialogue would literally interrupt an actual conversation she was having with another character and last for so long that I forgot she was supposed to be talking to someone.  And she was thinking about the same things over and over again! I was so annoyed! All this made me really sad because Tempest Rising was a really enjoyable book. 

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

I thought this book was going to be really interesting! The would seemed like it was going to be really unique, people living with computer chip implants that program them to be kind of drone like. So when I started reading it I really enjoyed the world building and learning about how all these people ended up living underground.  But then this guy comes and he says he's going to break out the main character and she trusts him just like that! And his slang "curse words" were just so annoying.  I couldn't get past it and that was that. I got about one hundred pages in before I put it down.  

Review: Soulbound

Title: Soulbound
Author: Heather Brewer
Series: Legacy of Tril #1
Publisher: Dial
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC

Tril is a world where Barrons and Healers are Bound to each other: Barrons fight and Healers cure their Barrons' wounds in the ongoing war with the evil Graplar King. Seventeen-year-old Kaya was born a Healer, but she wants to fight. In Tril, and at Shadow Academy, where she is sent to learn to heal, it is against Protocol for Healers to fight. So Kaya must learn in secret. Enter two young men: One charming, rule-following Barron who becomes Bound to Kaya and whose life she must protect at all costs. And one with a mysterious past who seems bent on making Kaya's life as difficult as possible. Kaya asks both to train her, but only one will, and the consequences will change their lives forever.

My thoughts: 

I don’t think I can actually put into words how much I loved this book! I really think that as of late I’ve found a new love in fantasy novels! Heather Brewer is an amazing storyteller and I will read pretty much anything she writes. I was a little hesitant when I started Soulbound because of the length but after about a few chapters, I was so sucked in that the page count wasn’t an issue.

Kaya is a really great main character! Her parents raised her to have a good head on her shoulders and to think for herself. When she is ripped from her parents and forced to attend the Shadow Academy and be trained only as a healer, she goes with it, for a while. But after she learns that more Healers than Barrons are dying, she wants to learn to fight for herself. And then the story gets really awesome!

Even though I really liked the cute, innocent, let’s get to know each other relationship Kaya has with Treyton, I can’t help but loving the tension filled relationship that she has with Darius. It’s a very rare occurrence where I like both of the love interests almost equally.

The world-building was also really fantastic! In the world of Tril there are the Healers and the Barrons who are considered Skilled people and are therefore the elite of society. Then there are the Unskilled who are the farmer and shopkeepers who live in little towns and villages. The whole county of Tril is plagued by the grapplers who are monsters that wage war for their dark king who is trying to take over the country. It was all really fascinating and I found myself completely enthralled!

And then there was that ending! It was a HUGE cliffhanger! I like to consider myself a shallow reader so I don’t look for any kind of foreshadowing or anything fancy like that. If a book can keep my attention, I usually like it! So when this big revelation hit, I did not see it coming! I was SHOCKED! I give Soulbound 5 hearts because it was exciting, full of adventure and had just the right amount of romance!

Waiting on Wednesday (64)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. This is one of my favorite memes because not only is my TBR pile so much bigger at the end of the night but also the covers are always amazing!

Title: The Murmurings
Author: Carley Anne West
Hitting the Shelves: March 05, 2013

After her older sister dies from an apparent suicide and her body is found hanging upside down by one toe from a tree, sixteen-year-old Sophie starts to hear the same voices that drove her sister to a psychotic break.

Why I want this: The Murmurings just sounds like an incredibly creepy book! There's not much in the synopsis but that cover speaks for itself and after one look I know I'm going to be reading it!


Current Giveaway!!


Enter for your chance to win a box of books! Giveaway ends July 31! CLICK HERE to enter!

Review: Ten

Title: Ten
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Find it here: Amazon, Goodreads
Source: ARC provided by publisher

And their doom comes swiftly.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

My thoughts: 

I was really, really hesitant to read Ten for a few different reasons. First of all, I didn’t know what it was about. Second, I really wasn’t that big of a fan of her first novel Possess because I didn’t enjoy the voice of the main character. But then I saw that awesome cover and after reading the synopsis, it’s sort of a re-telling of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is one of my all time favorite books ever! I read it about three times when I was in middle school because I just could not get enough of it! So I begged for this ARC! I begged and begged and I got it!!

Because I have read And Then There Were None many times, I knew what to expect from the basic story line. Ten people are invited to this house on a very small island and one by one they are killed off. At first it looks like an accident or suicide but they start to realize that someone is murdering them on purpose. I knew all this was going to happen and that the killer is going to be someone very unexpected. What I didn’t expect was for McNeil to write it so well.

McNeil did a superb job of creating the setting to be very creepy and scary! From the first few pages I understood the sense of dread that the main character felt even though she didn’t know why! Every little thing that happened was scary even when the characters were having a good time! It was fantastic and this is the reason why I love horror!

I liked the main character’s personality! Meg’s a really loyal friend to the point of standing up a guy she really likes because her best friend has had a crush on him forever (and so has she). This really made me want to punch her best friend in the face because Minnie would get mad when Meg was just talking to TJ (their crush). Even though Meg was being a good friend Minnie was not! It was totally a one-sided friendship. Meg and TJ were so cute once they both finally started letting their guard down. But romance was not the main theme of Ten which I’m glad because I wouldn’t have wanted it to overshadow the scary story!

Ten is an absolute must read and such a great scary story for YA! I Have to give Ten 5 hearts because it was a much better read than Possess and because I was literally afraid to turn my light off to sleep!!