Waiting on Wednesday (136)

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: Illusionarium
Author: Heather Dixon
Hitting the Shelves: May 19, 2015

From the author of Entwined, a brilliantly conceived adventure through an alternate London. This sweeping, cinematic tale of an apprentice scientist desperate to save his family—and his world—is The Night Circus meets Pixar.

Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that is breathtaking and wholly original.

Why I want this: There is something about this book that is drawing me in like a moth to a flame. I can't really say what it is! The cover is breathtaking and the synopsis is so short and so mysterious! I can't put my finger on it but I'm definitely going to read it soon! 

Top Ten Tuesday: New to Me Authors of 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme of lists hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. 

Authors that were new to me this year:

1. Cinda Williams Chima

2. Sarah Beth Durst

3. Brian Vaughan

4. Ilona Andrews

5. Jonathan Stroud

6. Gillian Flynn

7. Jeaniene Frost

8. Diana Gabaldon

Falling for Books Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up

I finished the Falling for Books read-a-thon hosted by my friend Nicole @ The Reader's Antidote! Even though I had a really big goal before it started and even though I didn't start off that great, I finished the Mara Dyer trilogy! 

I ended up reading a recap of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer on The Recaptains instead of re-read the book. The I moved right along to The Evolution of Mara Dyer and finished up with The Retribution of Mara Dyer. All in all I say it was pretty good because Evolution is over 500 pages and Retribution is almost 500 pages. So it was a lot of reading! And I finished a series which I always love to say! Now I'm gearing up for Nicole's End of the Year Read-a-Thon! 

What Does the Bookworm Say? My Christmas Wish List

This week for What Does the Bookworm Say we are talking about what we have on our Christmas wish lists'! Go see what my friends want for Christmas this year as well and visit Nite Lite Book Reviews, The Reader's Antidote and The Windy Pages. 

I don't have a whole ton of book on my wish list this year like I usually do because I have been buying a lot of books lately. And by lately I mean within the last couple of weeks. And I mean a whole lot of books. But there are still some books that I do have my eye on. 

1. The Seven Realms Box Set by Cinda Williams Chima

2. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

3. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

4. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

5. Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

That's pretty much all I have on my Christmas wish list this year! What are you wishing for? Have a topic you would like us to discuss? Let me know in the comments! 

Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Title: Dark Places

Author: Gillian Flynn

Publisher: Broadway Books

Release Date: May 05, 2009

Source: Purchased

Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Libby Day was just seven years old when her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother behind bars.

Since then, she had been drifting. But when she is contacted by a group who are convinced of Ben's innocence, Libby starts to ask questions she never dared to before. Was the voice she heard her brother's? Ben was a misfit in their small town, but was he capable of murder? Are there secrets to uncover at the family farm or is Libby deluding herself because she wants her brother back?

She begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day... especially Ben. Now, twenty-four years later, the truth is going to be even harder to find.
Who did massacre the Day family?

My thoughts: 

When I read my first Gillian Flynn book, I knew that I had just entered crazy town. I read Gone Girl first because I really want to watch the movie (even though I haven't yet) and as soon as I finished it I knew I had to read her other books! I picked up Dark Places immediately after I finished Gone Girl and, in my humble opinion, it's even better! 

Dark Places takes place in the present and in the past from two perspectives. 1. Libby Day's perspective in the present about fifteen years after the murder of her family. 2. Ben Day in the past, mostly on the day of the murder and sometimes a little bit before that. Ben is accused and convicted of murdering the Day family so his perspective in the past of what happened that day is very interesting and had me on the edge of my seat! I wasn't sure what to believe about who committed the murders. Which is good because the reader finds out everything at the end, thank God! 

Libby is an okay character. And I say only okay because she is one of those annoying people who is help back by her past and she just won't get over it. I know that sounds harsh but I come from the perspective that no matter what, you can always open a new door and choose a new path for yourself. Libby let's the murder of her family control her for at least fifteen years. If she really didn't want to be bothered by crazy murder fanatics trying to solve the mystery than she should have changed her name and moved to Canada. But I digress. 

The story was crazy though! As much as I liked Libby's story, I was on the edge of my seat during Ben's chapters because I just had to know what happened to him and that crazy-ass girlfriend of his! And I would have never even imagined the ending! 

Now lets talk about the movie (did you know they are turning this into a movie too!). Did you also know that Charlize Theron is playing the part of Libby Day!?!? Talk about the worst casting ever! While reading the book I could tell that a lot of what held Libby back was that she felt like she never grew up. She is supposed to be a women in her thirties but she still looks like a teenager.  Barely over five feet tall with a baby face and the same red hair she had as a child. And here comes six foot Charlize Theron who is well into her forties playing a women who is supposed to still look like a teenager. She is exactly the opposite of Libby Day. So I'm very interested to see how this is all going to work out.

Dark Places was absolutely excellent! I can't wait for the next book that Gillian Flynn writes! She is definitely on my auto-buy list.

Falling for Books Read-a-Thon Update: My Name is Crystal and I'm a Bad Reader

About a week ago I decided I was going to participate in the Falling for Books Read-a-Thon hosted by The Reader's Antidote because I'm a little behind on my yearly reading challenge. I originally wanted to read the Mara Dyer trilogy but came to my senses and realized that reading that trilogy was quite a lofty goal. So with the help of The Recaptains, I decided that I wasn't going to re-read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer because they wrote an awesome recap that helped me remember everything I forgot!

I started The Evolution of Mara Dyer on Wednesday morning, when the read-a-thon officially started and since then I have only read about 100 pages. I'm a bad reader. I wanted to read so much more but life, as always, has gotten in the way. After work on Wednesday, I planned on getting a large chunk of the book done but I just didn't feel like reading. I definitely didn't read at all yesterday because Thanksgiving was just way too busy. Luckily I have tomorrow off and I'm hoping to not only finish The Evolution of Mara Dyer but also read at least half of The Retribution of Mara Dyer. Since the books read really fast, I know that when I commit a good chunk of time to reading it, I can get a lot done. And that's what I plan on doing tomorrow. It will be good to finally finish a trilogy that I started over two years ago! 

Waiting on Wednesday (135)

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: Hold Me Like a Breath
Author: Tiffany Schmidt
Hitting the Shelves: May 19, 2015

Penelope Landlow has grown up with the knowledge that almost anything can be bought or sold—including body parts. She’s the daughter of one of the three crime families that control the black market for organ transplants.

Penelope’s surrounded by all the suffocating privilege and protection her family can provide, but they can't protect her from the autoimmune disorder that causes her to bruise so easily.

And in her family's line of work no one can be safe forever.

All Penelope has ever wanted is freedom and independence. But when she’s caught in the crossfire as rival families scramble for prominence, she learns that her wishes come with casualties, that betrayal hurts worse than bruises, that love is a risk worth taking . . . and maybe she’s not as fragile as everyone thinks.

Why I want this: Do I want to read about a girl whose family sells human organs on the black market? YES! This book sounds sooooo good! But then I see that cover and that title. That cover and that title tell me that this book is going to be a contemporary romance without reading the synopsis. I want this book to have a really sinister cover! And a way better title! Come on marketing and cover design department! What were you thinking? This cover does not scream "organs sold on the black market!" Nevertheless, I will most likely read it!