Waiting on Wednesday – Just One Day
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
Just One Day sounds incredible and I adore Gayle Forman. Can’t wait for this release 
Just One Day – Gayle Forman
Series: Just One Day #1
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Published: January 8th, 2014
Links: Amazon Book Depository
A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay.
When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon!
Waiting on Wednesday – Touched
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
This week I’m choosing Touched by Corrine Jackson. I haven’t read this author before but Touched sounds interesting.
Touched – Corrine Jackson
Series: Sense Thieves #1
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Published: November 27th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Remy O’Malley heals people with touch—but every injury she cures becomes her own. Living in a household with an abusive stepfather, she has healed untold numbers of broken bones, burns,and bruises. And then one night her stepfather goes too far.
Being sent to live with her estranged father offers a clean start and she is eager to take it. Enter Asher Blackwell. Once a Protector of Healers, Asher sacrificed his senses to become immortal. Only by killing a Healer can a Protector recover their human senses. Falling in love is against the rules between these two enemies. Because Remy has the power to make Protectors human again, and when they find out, they’ll becoming for her—if Asher doesn’t kill her first.
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. The Top Ten topic this week is:
Top Ten Favorite Authors In X Genre (Ex- Top Ten Favorite Science Fiction Authors, Top Ten Fave Contemporary YA authors)
Coming up with a top ten in any genre was a real struggle as I’d only get to a max of 8 authors largely because I can’t recommend (aka disliked) the more recent books of some of my favourite authors. I’ve broken up with Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton & Chloe Neill and I’m on sabitical from Kelley Armstrong. So I’ve decided to break my Top Ten into two top 5 lists, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal YA.
Urban Fantasy:
1. Ilona Andrews – Yes I’m a fangirl I adore this author and Kate Daniels is my favourite series. I love the characters and the world the Andrews have created. The main series is pretty fantastic but so are the short stories featuring secondary characters. In addition Ilona Andrews blog is really good, these two are exceptional at fan interaction with free stories and snippets on their blog. And at the moment there is a free online serial Clean Sweep which I’m really enjoying. Follow the link here.
2. Wen Spencer – Oh Tinker, I put off reading this series for ages because of the awful covers. Thankfully the story inside the terrible cover is amazing. The world and characters just suck me in, every time.
3. Karen Chance – No one does non stop action like Karen Chance. I really enjoy all of her series but Dorina Basarab is my favourite.
4. Patricia Briggs – Mercy Thompson and Alpha & Omega are brilliant series. I highly recommend both. I’m a big fan of Anna and Charles. They just work
5. Seanan McGuire - I’ve fallen a little behind with the October Daye series but I mean to catch up soon.
Paranormal YA:
1. Jennifer L. Armentrout – Daemon Black, need I say any more
2. Laini Taylor - So far I’ve only read Daughter of Smoke and Bone but I loved the story and the writing. Really looking forward to Days of Blood and Starlight in November.
3. Sarah Rees Brennan – I love her humour and her quirky characters. Plus her blog is too funny:)
4. Brigid Kemmerer - The Merrick family is awesome. The dynamic between the brothers is so realistic. I love them.
5. Melissa Marr – Melissa Marr has created some greats world and characters. Always an interesting read.
September Mini Reviews
Here are some mini reviews of several books that I read in September. Mini as in, did I enjoy the story or not. I hate reviews that give away too many plot details but even so, these reviews are really brief.
Blood Fever – Veronica Wolff
Series: The Watchers #3
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Published: August 7th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME—EVEN IF HOME IS WHERE THE DEAD LIVE…
It’s the start of the fall semester, and a new crop of Acari and Trainees have descended on the Isle of Night. Watcher training has intensified, and Drew has a new roommate named Mei-Ling. But Mei-Ling harbors a dangerous secret that drove the vampires to abduct her against her will. Drew knows she shouldn’t get involved, but she can’t seem to leave her roommate to fend for herself.
Luckily, Drew has other things on her mind—like vampire Carden. A blood bond to a brawny, eighteenth-century Scottish bad boy tends to preoccupy a girl. And though she’s still figuring out what this bond means, one thing has become clear: She craves him in a major way.
But then bodies start turning up on the island. All the evidence points to the existence of a rogue vampire, and the sinister vampire Alcántara is gunning for Carden, even though Drew has proof that Carden had nothing to do with the murders. Now she has to find the true killer—without endangering Carden, Mei-Ling, or herself…
I don’t know what it is about this series, there’s so much wrong with it I could write an essay but somehow I love it, it just works for me. It’s inexplicable – the body count in this series is off the charts, the violence is graphic and constant and the secondary characters are somewhat one dimensional. But somehow this series is like chocolate to me, I love it. Another crazy installment. My Rating: 7.5/10
Full Blooded – Amanda Carlson
Series: Jessica McClain #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published: September 11th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Born the only female in an all male race, Jessica McClain isn’t just different—she’s feared.
After living under the radar for the last twenty-six years, Jessica is thrust unexpectedly into her first change, a full ten years late. She wakes up and finds she’s in the middle of a storm. Now that she’s become the only female full-blooded werewolf in town, the supernatural world is already clamoring to take a bite out of her and her new Pack must rise up and protect her.
But not everyone is on board. The werewolf Rights of Laws is missing text and the superstitious werewolves think that Jessica means an end to their race. It doesn’t help when Jessica begins to realize she’s more. She can change partway and hold her form, and speak directly to her wolf. But the biggest complication by far is that her alpha father can’t control her like he can the rest of his wolves.
When a mercenary who’s been hired by the vampires shows up to extract information about the newly turned werewolf only days after her change, they find themselves smack in the middle of a war and there’s no choice but to run together. When it’s up to Jessica to negotiate her release against her father’s direct orders, she chooses to take an offer for help instead. In exchange, Jessica must now swear an oath she may end up repaying with her life.
Finally a story that fulfilled my expectations. I’ve had bad luck with Urban Fantasy books lately in that they’ve all been pretty disappointing. I was starting to freak out about my favourite genre but thank you Amanda Carlson for Full Blooded. It wasn’t perfect but I really liked the story. My Rating: 7.5/10
Cursed – Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Unknown
Genre: Paranormal YA
Published: September 18th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Dying sucks– and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.
Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things–including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden’s adopted father, a man she’s sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out.
However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister’s hand again. And hell, she’d also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn’t? But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not have been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.
I’m a recent Jennifer L. Armentrout convert and boy am I impressed. Her stories are so readable and I really love the characters she creates. I’ve enjoyed all her series, JLA tells a great story. Cursed doesn’t quite have the magic of the Lux and Covenant series but still a good read. My Rating: 7/10
Defiance – C. J. Redwine
Series: Defiance #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: August 28th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city’s brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father’s apprentice, Logan–the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same one who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but a fierce belief in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.
At nineteen, Logan McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to the city’s top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.
As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.
I hated the characters immediately. Bad sign because I’m all about the characters. Just couldn’t get into this story. However everyone else loved it, I’m definitely in the minority here. My Rating: DNF
Unspoken – Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Lynburn Legacy #1
Genre: Paranormal YA
Published: September 11th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
But all that changes when the Lynburns return.
The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?
Cliffhangers!!! I lack the patience. But it says a lot about how much I enjoyed Unspoken that I didn’t mind the cliff hanger too much. Great quirky characters and a really interesting plot. My Rating: 8.5/10
New Releases: October 16th, 2012
These are just a few of the new releases on offer this week. My list isn’t necessarily comprehensive, just those books/covers that caught my interest. Slim pickings this week but these two look good.
Crewel – Gennifer Albin
Series: Crewel World #1
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Published: October 16th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Incapable. Awkward. Artless.
That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.
Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.
Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.
Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.
Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.
The Shadow Society – Marie Rutkoski
Series:
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Published: October 16th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Darcy Jones doesn’t remember anything before the day she was abandoned as a child outside a Chicago firehouse. She has never really belonged anywhere—but she couldn’t have guessed that she comes from an alternate world where the Great Chicago Fire didn’t happen and deadly creatures called Shades terrorize the human population.
Memories begin to haunt Darcy when a new boy arrives at her high school, and he makes her feel both desire and desired in a way she hadn’t thought possible. But Conn’s interest in her is confusing. It doesn’t line up with the way he first looked at her.
As if she were his enemy.
When Conn betrays Darcy, she realizes that she can’t rely on anything—not herself, not the laws of nature, and certainly not him. Darcy decides to infiltrate the Shadow Society and uncover the Shades’ latest terrorist plot. What she finds out will change her world forever . . .
In this smart, compulsively readable novel, master storyteller Marie Rutkoski has crafted an utterly original world, characters you won’t soon forget, and a tale full of intrigue and suspense.
Apologies
Sorry for the radio silence all week. Real life has been really busy lately meaning I have less time for my blog. Reduced but normal service to resume this week. Hopefully
Adina
Waiting on Wednesday – Days of Blood and Starlight
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
Days of Blood and Starlight is the highly anticipated sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I loved the first book and simply cannot wait for the sequel.
Days of Blood and Starlight – Laini Taylor
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Published: November 6th, 2012
Links: Amazon Book Depository
Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.
This is not that world.
Student and monster’s apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is–and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.
In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she’ll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.
While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.
But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?
