W..W..W.. Wednesdays #25

W.W.W Wednesdays is a weekly event bought to you by MizB from Should Be Reading 

It's Wednesday and that means its time to let the world know what I've been reading. When I say the world, I mean this tiny corner of the internet that I call my blog. Hope everyone is having a good week.

What are you currently reading?
At the moment I am reading Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge, which is based on Beauty and the Beast. I am really captivated by the rich and lavish story. I was up till late last night reading it. The only reason I could't finish it was the fact that I had work the next day and I need sleep to function. 

What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished reading Tandem by Anna Jarzab. The parallel universe lore was done really well and easy to understand but the romance and the main character let me down. I also finished reading The Unbound by Victoria Schwab. It was beautifully haunting and emotionally raw. If you haven't read The Archived yet I highly suggest you do because the series is beyond wonderful. Plus it has libraries of the dead and a hot guy that wears eyeliner.

What do you think you'll read next?

I know I have been saying this for the last couple of week but I want to read Vicious by Victoria Schwab and No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale next. It's not my fault that other books keep calling me to read them. I also want to read Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd.

Thats all for me. Let me know what you guys are reading.

Review: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Title: The Moon and More

Author: Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Puffin Group

Release Date: 4^th June 2013

Source: Library

Rating: 3 out of 5

Description: Colby may be just a small holiday beach town for the tourists, but for Emeline it's home. It looks like its going to be another typical summer there with here gorgeous high-school sweetheart, Luke - until a New Yorker filmmaker and her ambitious assistant Tho check it. They're obviously after a story. But, when getting the locals to talk proves tricky, Theo decides they need a guide and he's got his eye on Emeline...Can Emeline decide where her loyalties, and her heart, truly lies before the summer ends?

The Moon and More was a good contemporary novel that focused on change and the uncertainty in growing up.  This was my first book by Sarah Dessen and I can see why people like her novels. The Moon and More had the perfect combination of drama and light breezy moments, making for a warm and charming story filled with relatable characters.  Dessen takes us into the town of Colby and gives us a window into Emaline’s life as we get to meet her family, friends and experience all that small town living has to offer.

Emeline lives in the small holiday beach town of Colby where everyone knows everyone. Emeline is enjoying the summer before she heads of to university. She has her loving family, long time boyfriend and friends but change is just around the corner for her when her biological father comes back to town. If that wasn’t enough to shake her, a New York filmmaker and her assistant Theo arrive to make a documentary and need her help.

Where the Moon and More really worked for me was in its realistic depiction of relationships right from familial relationships to those between friends, partners and locals.  It felt as though Emeline’s friends and family were your friends and family as I’m sure we have all had relationships similar to theirs. There was no difficult high drama but straightforward issues that cropped up from the changing climate of Emeline’s life.  The Moon and More deals with growing up and finding out what you want for yourself and whom you want to keep in your life. Emeline goes on a journey where she discovers a lot about herself and finds the unexpected in new people she meets. The story is realistic and there are many aspects that people will connect with as they may have had similar experiences.  The only problem I had with this book was that the middle of the book was a little lacklustre. The book started of strong and finished strong but the middle could have used a little more excitement.

Emeline was a wonderful protagonist. She was a perfectionist and always strived for the best. It was very easy to like this warm girl who is learning to grow up. She was always trying to help people even if she didn’t like them, especially in her job. Her job at the realty agency provided some great insights into the rental business and provided ample comedy, especially between the siblings. The realty business was interesting to learn about. Ivy came off as a bit of a stuck up big city chick but by the end of it you couldn’t but help like her dedication. Clyde was an enigma. I loved Emeline’s family with her dad’s constant construction, mum’s stress eating and the siblings bickering.  They really loved and supported each other. Morris was such a fun best friend.

Colby was a wonderful backdrop. It had its own charm and uniqueness that encompassed the whole story. The locals were all quirky and I loved getting to know them. Emeline has always lived in this town and the small town nature and local customs influenced this story.  Life in Colby is very different from life in big cities.  As Emeline gets to know Ivy and Theo from New York, Dessan wonderfully contrasts people who come from very different upbringings and communities.  It makes Emeline question what she wants for herself. Does she want to leave Colby or does she want to stay?

The romance in The Moon and More explored the break-up of a long time romance and the start of a new one.  Luke and Theo were polar opposites and their relationships with Emeline were different. The romance was not sugary sweet and over the top romantic. Again it was realistic, showcasing the distance that develops between two people and the incompatibility between those who have different ideals.

Overall, The Moon and More is a relatable contemporary novel about growing up. 

Monthly Wrap Up - January 2014

It's a brand new year and that means brand new books. This month has been pretty quite around the blog due to holidays. Also it is a new year and this year I have again set myself a reading challenge of 100 books. I managed to read 9 books this month, so I'm off to a good start.

Book of the Month:

My book of the month is The Falconer by Elizabeth May. It was dark, blood thirsty and fierce. It was a story that had everything I was looking for. It had a fierce heroine out for blood, murderous fairies and plenty of steampunk elements. As a bonus it was all set in historical Scotland. 

Books Reviewed in the Month of January:

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

The Falconer by Elizabeth May 

Fireblood by Trisha Wolfe

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Elsewhere on the Blog:

End of Year Survey
14 Sequels for 2014
14 Debut Books for 2014

W..W..W.. Wednesdays #24

W.W.W Wednesdays is a weekly event bought to you by MizB from Should Be Reading 

It's Wednesday and that means its time to let the world know what I've been reading. When I say the world, I mean this tiny corner of the internet that I call my blog. Hope everyone is having a good week.

What are you currently reading?
At the moment I am reading Defy by Sara B Larson. I only have a few more chapters left and have really enjoyed the action and romance in this book. The whole girl fighter dressed as a boy story reminds me alot of Alanna.

What did you recently finish reading?
I finished reading The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen. This was my first Sarah Dessen book and it struck a good balance between happy and drama. Overall it was a good comtemporaty read.

What do you think you'll read next?

Up next for me will probably be Vicious by Victoria Schwab and No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale.

Thats all for me. Let me know what you guys are reading.

Review: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title: The Naturals

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Publisher: Quercus

Release Date: 7^th November 2013

Source: Bought

Rating: 4 out of 5

Description: Cassie Hobbes is not like most teenagers. Most teenagers don’t lose their mother in a bloody, unsolved kidnapping. Most teenagers can’t tell who you are, where you’re from and how you’re likely to behave within moments of meeting you. And most teenagers don’t get chosen to join The Naturals. Identified by the FBI as uniquely gifted, Cassie is recruited to an elite school where a small number of teens are trained to hone their exceptional abilities. For Cassie, trying to make friends with the girls, and to figure out the two very different, very hot boys, is challenging enough. But when a serial killer begins recreating the details of her mother’s horrific crime scene, she realises just how dangerous life in The Naturals could be.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a psychological crime novel. The Naturals has a bit of a slow start but once the killer comes out to play the real fun begins in this creepy story. This book surprised me in a good way. When I head that the premise of this book was teenage FBI agents I half expected teen detectives running around crime scenes and actively perusing criminals, NCIS/CSI style. While there are crime scenes, this book has more of a psychological/criminological edge. Cassie and her counterparts are all mini Sherlock Holmes who use their natural talents to get into the mindset of killers in order to solve the case.  It was equally fascinating and sufficiently creepy learning about how murderers went about their crimes and what they thought about their victims.  The Naturals is a great YA thriller that delves into the mindset of killers and the people who catch them.  

Cassie has a natural talent of looking at people and reading them. Think Sherlock Homes or Shawn Spencer. Her unique gift attracts the attention of the FBI who want her to join a classified program where teens with talent (Naturals) solve old cold cases. However there is a murderer on the lose and his sights seems to be set on Cassie. It will be up to The Naturals to solve this case.  Where this book excels is in the criminal profiling and information gathering processes used to solve crime. Barnes is excellent at delving into the psychology of murderers.  It’s seriously eerie guys!

It was also interesting to see what clues helped Cassie to profile people and learn about them through the smallest details. It was also scary how Cassie put herself in the killer or victim’s shoes to gain insight. It wasn’t just Cassie that had a remarkable talent. The other Naturals also had interesting abilities. Michael is able to read emotions. Slone is a statistician and Lia was a specialist in deception.  Dean like Cassie is also a profiler. The entire Naturals team was very unique in their own odd little ways.  Each had an interesting back-story. They all stood out in their own way with all their differing quirks and relationships. As the story goes on you can see how they all form bonds with each other and learn to work in a team. There is a romantic subplot in this story but it is very minimal as most of the action is focused on catching the killer.  Even though there is a slight love triangle it did not bother me, as Cassie isn’t the type to string people around. Also Michael and Dean are quite different from one another.

There were chapters from the murders perspective throughout the book that were particularly disturbing.  The thoughts were definitely twisted especially once the game was on. When the cat and mouse game begins you cannot help but turn the pages to find out what happens next. The killer grows more desperate and their action takes on a more sickening tone.  Although the killer was easy to guess before the reveal, the motivation behind their actions was something that kept me reading the book.

If you are a fan of crime thrillers than this book might be right up your alley. 

Review: Fireblood by Trisha Wolfe

Title: Fireblood

Author: Trisha Wolfe

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Release Date: 26^th November 2013

Source: Bought

Rating: 3 out of 5

Description: To save a kingdom, Zara must choose between a prince who could be the answer and a rising rebellion that threatens to take control. When Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart, son of the man who ordered her father's capture, Zara knows she must fight to save everything she loves from ruin. Being betrothed to the prince means a life trapped behind the towering stone walls of the Camelot-forged realm. Under the watchful eye of the prince's first knight, Sir Devlan Capra, changing her future becomes difficult. When an unlikely rebel reveals the truth about the deadly secrets that fuel King Hart's twisted world, Zara's path to rescue her father becomes clouded by deception. The Rebels clear her path by forcing Zara's hand with an ultimatum: sway Prince Sebastian to join the Rebels, convincing him of his father's evil nature, or they will take him out. But Zara is uncertain about a future under the Rebels' command and where the prince's heart truly lies. She must decide who to trust, what to believe, and what she's truly fighting for before the king destroys all of Karm, including her heart.

Fireblood was a book that I went into with a lot of expectations. The premise sounded fantastic and Trisha Wolfe’s books always have a unique world with strong well-developed characters. Wolfe’s previous novel, The Kyzatham Chronicles’ was a book that I loved right from the start. However Fireblood was a little underwhelming despite its fresh unique dystopian setting. Fireblood is similar to other dystopias where society has reverted to an older time period and its traditions to preserve itself. In this case Fireblood is set in a society where the king has made everyone live by the traditions as set in Camelot by King Arthur.  

Zara Dane is chosen to marry Prince Sebastian Hart. But marrying Sebastian means marrying into the family that has caused her so much pain. It goes against everything she’s been taught. Zara needs to find away to escape in order to save herself but she stumbles upon a rebellion against King Hart. Now Zara has to choose between helping the rebels sway Sebastian to their side or risk losing it all.  The choice isn’t easy as Zara decides who to trust, what to believe and where her heart lies.  

The world building was one of the major problems I had with this book.  The society itself was very interesting with technology hidden away, jousting tournaments and Knights of the Round Table. It was the fact that the world building and rules incorporated into the society raised more questions than they answered.  The reasons behind why Camelot was chosen as an inspiration for this society was not addressed. Also the reasons behind the virus that caused society to live this way was not explained a really plausible way. In short I really didn’t buy into the world. I think that some of this stemmed from the fact that King Hart has a presence in the characters minds, but we do not get to know him as we only get glimpses of him through out the book.  The rebellion aspect of this story was the part that stood out.  There were multiple players involved in taking down the king and their loyalties were tested. There was a bit of deception and uncertainly that made Zara really question what she wanted to do. There is also plenty of sword action in this story.

Regardless of the world building there is one thing Wolfe always does well and that is the romance and character development. Zara is stubborn, headstrong and determined. She always rises up to any of the challenges thrown at her. She never gives up, even when her faith is being tested. She never gives up. Sir Devlan is assigned to guard and watch Zara. However he is more than what he seems. Devlan was a standard love interest. He was stoic at first and then later opens up as were learn more about him. He was supportive and kind when he needed to be but there was nothing incredibly special about him. The romance between Devlan and Zara was one that grows over time at a slow pace. Although there are hints at a love triangle, it is pretty clear where Zara’s feelings lie.

Sebastian was meant to be a bad boy with a redeemable soul. I understand that he was meant to be portrayed as being in conflict over his morals but overall he appeared to be cartoonish.  Zara’s biggest conflict is what she wants to do with Sebastian. She kept finding some redeeming quality in him and wanted to do right by him. However right from the beginning his actions showed a very different side of him that was hard to ignore.  There were massive hints to his true nature but Zara was too forgiving or ignorant of it. I just wanted to shake her.  In the end his sudden turn in personality was not shocking.

The ending also was very rushed with the consequences of the final battle not really being delved into. A lot happens towards the end of the book and not all of it is addressed. Overall Fireblood is a good book with strong characters and romance but it does have shaky world building and predictable villains.

W..W..W.. Wednesdays #23

W.W.W Wednesdays is a weekly event bought to you by MizB from Should Be Reading 

It's Wednesday and that means its time to let the world know what I've been reading. When I say the world, I mean this tiny corner of the internet that I call my blog. Hope everyone is having a good week.

What are you currently reading?

At the moment I am reading The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen. This is my first Sarah Dessen book and so far I really like the protagonist and the nature of the story. The story automatically caught my attention and broke my reader's block.

What did you recently finish reading?
I haven't finished a book in over a week. I've keep starting a book, only to abandon it for another. I think I've picked up 3 different books only to lose interest. The last book I read was Of Silver and Beasts by Trisha Wolfe. It was an ok-ish book with very unique world building. 

What do you think you'll read next?

Up next for me will probably be Eon by Alison Goodman. I'm also waiting for my copy of Vicious by Victoria Schwab to arrive. So if that gets here this week, I'll probably read that.

Thats all for me. Let me know what you guys are reading.