Saturday, April 26, 2014

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. With this amazing meme, you can check out which books I've gotten this past week.

What I Bought:
A Tale of Two Citites
Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Citiesis one of Charles Dickens’s most popular and dramatic stories.

It begins on a muddy English road in an atmosphere charged with mystery and it ends in the Paris of the Revolution with one of the most famous acts of self-sacrifice in literature. In between lies one of Dickens’s most exciting books—a historical novel that, generation after generation, has given readers access to the profound human dramas that lie behind cataclysmic social and political events. Famous for its vivid characters, including the courageous French nobleman Charles Darnay, the vengeful revolutionary Madame Defarge, and cynical Englishman Sydney Carton, who redeems his ill-spent life in a climactic moment at the guillotine (“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”), the novel is also a powerful study of crowd psychology and the dark emotions aroused by the Revolution, illuminated by Dickens’s lively comedy.

The White Queen
Philippa Gregory presents the first of a new series set amid the deadly feuds of England known as the Wars of the Roses.
Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They are the claimants and kings who ruled England before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women, starting with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.
The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores this most famous unsolved mystery of English history, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.
With The White Queen, Philippa Gregory brings the artistry and intellect of a master writer and storyteller to a new era in history and begins what is sure to be another bestselling classic series from this beloved author.
Grim
Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today: 

Ellen Hopkins 
Amanda Hocking 
Julie Kagawa 
Claudia Gray 
Rachel Hawkins 
Kimberly Derting 
Myra McEntire 
Malinda Lo 
Sarah Rees-Brennan 
Jackson Pearce 
Christine Johnson 
Jeri Smith Ready 
Shaun David Hutchinson 
Saundra Mitchell 
Sonia Gensler 
Tessa Gratton 
Jon Skrovan

Scintillate
A mighty flame follows a tiny spark.

Cora Sandoval’s mother disappeared when she was five and they were living in Ireland. Since then, her dad has been more than overprotective, and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines. But even more troubling is the colorful light she suddenly sees around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.

As she realizes the danger associated with these strange auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves, and Finn’s mother orders him home to Ireland upon hearing he’s fallen in love. After a fight with her father, Cora flees to Ireland, both to follow Finn and to look for her missing mother.

There she meets another silver-haloed person and discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—one that could change mankind forever…and end her life.

Scintillate is the first book in this lush and exciting new trilogy, full of romance, adventure and metaphysical mystery.

Alienated
Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

The Assassin's Blade
Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

From Goodreads:
Shattered Secrets
After being kidnapped, hogtied, and stuffed in the trunk of a car, seventeen-year-old Abigail Nichols' boy problems seem unimportant. 
She couldn't be more wrong.

The boy who saves her holds her heart. 

But Derick Crawford also holds secrets. 

Magical beings who guide human emotions are fighting an invisible war dating back to the dawn of time, and Abigail's one of them. The more she learns of her heritage, the less she wants to know. Armed with a very old, very massive book to teach them about their history, Abigail and Derick run away to a place where they think they can be safe and happy, only to have their troubles secretly hitch a ride.

Her history book is in a sharing mood, and it tells her to keep a secret of her own.

But has she put her trust in the wrong place?

And will the world survive if she has?

For Review:
The Kiss of Deception
In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assasin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.


Leave a link to your STS in the comments. Have a great weekend.



Saturday, April 19, 2014

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Series: The Arcana Chronicles #1
Publication Date: October 2, 2012
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ B&N

Synopsis: She could save the world—or destroy it.

Sixteen-year-old Evangeline "Evie" Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they're still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can't do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can't totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it's not always clear who is on which side.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

My Review: I've seen many reviews about this book, and it seems like people either love it or hate it. I was really iffy going into this book, but thankfully I found this book to be amazing! I loved the authors writing and the characters were all so unique and interesting. I couldn't put the book down, and when I had to I was dying to keep reading.

Evie Greene has always been told that her grandmother is crazy! But when her grandmother's words come true about the "end of the world" Evie has to race to find her grandmother who has all the answers. But things are never that easy, Evie hears voices in her head and experiences crazy visions of death and witches. And if that's not crazy enough for you, she can control plants. Follow Evie on her quest to find her grandmother, while facing cannibals, evil Bagmen, and her sexy partner Jack.

I absolutely love the world that this book is set in. Not only is it described perfectly, but we also get to see many places instead of just one town. The author also did a fantastic job with the timeline. She skips over a huge part of the characters story while it was just her and her mom trying to survive for the first few days, and I thought that was prefect, if she wrote that in the book would have been huge and boring, and it was definitely different since most books everything happens all at once to the characters.

I had mixed emotions about Evie, for most of the book I really liked her. I loved how she felt so broken because of her summer, and then she went back to school and was able to put on a fake face just like that. Also I loved watching her develop throughout the book, she becomes so interesting by the end of the book. But there were definitely some parts about her that made me mad, like when she was going to tell her boyfriend that she was ready.. meanwhile she totally had feelings for someone else.. not cool! Also she was really naive at the beginning of her and Jack's adventure. But I must say that I was pretty impressed with her character, and no one can be completely perfect.

Jack was a fantastic character. I love the fact that he was Cajun. Reading the French in the book was so enjoyable for me, I love French and I've been learning for a while, it was easy enough to understand and it always comes with translations so you wont be lost. I love Jack's attitude, hes definitely a loving character, even though he hides most of his emotions due to his past. 

I definitely recommend this book to any lovers of post-apocalyptic books. You will not be disappointed in this one. 

Thanks for reading,
-Aneta

Friday, April 18, 2014

I'M BACK!

Hi everyone! I'm back from Europe!!
For those of you who don't know, I went on a trip to Europe with my school. We went to Berlin, Munich, Verona, Venice, Florence, and Rome.

Every city was so amazing! I would honestly live there if I could.
The food was so good! Especially the Italian pasta!
And lets just say that the German boys were HOT!

Here are some pics I took :)











Thank you to everyone who wished me well, I never got back to you because of the lack of wifi so I'm doing that now. I love you all!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1
Publication Date: April 15th 2014
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ B&N

Synopsis: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

My Rating: 5/5 stars

My Review: I am really surprised how much I loved this book. Everything about it was so wonderful, the writing, the characters, the relationships and the fantastic use of detail.

Family is really important in this book, we see that Lara Jean’s mother died when she was still little, and now she currently lives with her father and two sisters.
I have always wanted a sister, and while I was reading this book I definitely felt like I was a part of the family, all the characters were described so perfectly and it was just so easy to get to know them, love them, and feel like they were your own family.

Lara Jean’s character is really amazing. Not only is she so easy to relate to, but also the kind of person that you might admire. She grows up so much in this book, she goes from being the middle child who just does what her big sister tells her, to a mature old sister who knows how to call the shots and take care of her family.

To Lara Jean family means everyting. In this book not only does she learn how to take care of her family but she also learns how to go out with her friends and have a good time. Obviously her family isn’t perfect, they fight and get jealous of each other. But at the end of the day they always make up and do everything together to help each other move and be better versions of themselves.

Like I said before the characters are all so amazing. Lara Jean’s little sister Kitty is extremely funny. I have always wanted a little sister and I would love to have her as my own sister. The two main boys in this story are so different, yet I couldn’t help to love them both. (But I’m so team Peter just so you know.) Peter is more of the bad boy who ends up actually caring and having feelings later on, while Josh is the nice and smart guy who’s like your best friend who you’ve always had a secret crush on.

This book definitely relates to real life and I feel like most people who read this book can definitely relate to it. Whether it’s the love aspect, the family aspect or the whole high school aspect, most readers will find something to relate to.

I loved how this book didn’t have instalove, and the characters got to know each other before they  realized they had feelings for one another, and even then it wasn’t some fancy ending where the characters race across a field of flowers. Like I said before this book is very realistic, and I felt like the love between the characters felt like something that would happen in real life, and you’d fall in love with someone with time, rather than just instantly seeing them and knowing they’re the one.

When I got close to the end, I realized that there were still some loose ties between some of the details and I started panicking. Thankfully there will be a sequel to this book, and I absolutely can’t wait to read the rest to this series.
I definitely recommend this book to everyone, even if you don’t like contemporary books, I still recommend it because there's just so many different parts to it, that you will definitely find something you like in this novel.

I really want to thank Goodreads, Simon & Schuster and the wonderful author Jenny Han for providing me with this beautiful copy of this book. I am so grateful that I got to read this book, and I sincerely want to thank you.

Thank you so much for reading
-Aneta

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Blog Tour + Review & Giveaway: Captivate Me by S.J. Pierce

Hi everyone, welcome to my stop on the Captivate Me book tour, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours. Below you will find all information about this book. Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post, and check out the other stops on this tour here.

Captivate Me by S.J. Pierce
Series: Captivated #1
Publication Date: April 1st 2014
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ B&N

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Kat Walsh is a Gifted – a human with paranormal abilities. With her mom a former Angel and her dad a dream prophet, it’s always been in her genetic make-up to be extraordinary. Unfortunately for her, the world can’t handle the strange or unusual. So when she slips up and uses her powers at her high school in Ireland, the entire student body treats her like a freak – even the ones she thought were her closest friends.

Broken, but hopeful for a fresh start, she allows her parents to enroll her in a boarding school buried deep within the forests of a small Colorado town. At Midland Pines, School for the Gifted, she feels as though she can finally be herself; she makes new friends and even has the attention of the most popular guy in school – Levi. Everything feels normal again… or does it?

Not long after her arrival, weird dreams of an alluring boy whom she’s never met surface during the night, and the eerie, shadowy trees encircling their school seem to call to her. As these disturbing, yet enticing developments intensify, other bizarre occurrences happen – students and staff turn up missing, and mystery visitors leave gifts while she sleeps. With all of these other things vying for her attention, a desperate Levi has to fight even harder to keep her interest. But with the dreams of the attractive boy slowly captivating her heart, Kat has to make a choice – will she settle for ‘great’ Levi, or will she search for her elusive dream visitor, possibly stumbling across ‘amazing?’

From the author of the Alyx Rayer Chronicles, comes a refreshingly different Young Adult series with plenty of love, suspense, and a new take on the Paranormal.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

My Review: Captivate me is a wonderful story that definitely captivated my heart! It was so great, if I could have, I would have read it in one sitting.

Captivate Me is a story about Kat, when she is whisked away to Midland Pines, a school for the Gifted. Kat has the power of telekinesis, and possibly the power of profecy, which should be expected  when you have an angel mother and profet father. Things at the new school seem normal, until she starts seeing mysterious people in the forest, and students/staff start disappearing, could Kat be next?

I found this story to be very charming, it was mostly about the romance aspect of the book with a hint of fantasy. This book definitely surprised me with the romance a little, I loved how the author made Kat fall in love with Levi first, it made the reader feel like Kat is more of a real person rather than a character,  I feel like most people go through the relationship where it's like "I wonder if he's the one?" and you're not sure, but then you realize that he isn't. We all go through that at one point, and it was just so lovely to read a book where "the one" isn't the first person they've been with. I definitely give props to the author for getting out of the norm.

I had mixed emotions about Kats character, I found her very relateable and pretty awesome, except in the cases when she turned really whiny and annoying. But overall I liked her more than I some of the characters. Plus her relationship with Gabe was really cute and I loved every part of it.

Overall, this was a fantastic book, and I definitely recommend it to everyone.

Happy Reading,
-Aneta




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