Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Book Review

Author: Holly Black
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Source: Purchased

Summary from Goodreads: Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave.
One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

Rating: êêêê

Review

It's official, I am a fan of Holly Black and most definitely will continue to read her work!

I was sucked into this story right away. Our main character, Tana, wakes up after a party surrounded by the corpses of her friends. I loved that the setting was Springfield, MA.

The world building was fabulous! I think we all know that vampire stories seemed to be the in thing for quite a while, and unfortunately many of those stories were repetitive and unoriginal. Holly Black's story is a breath of fresh air. She has created an interesting and unique take on vampires, with a believable human response, and she has developed an impressively authentic world.

I loved the characters. The two major characters were extremely well developed, while they are not perfect, they are likeable. Their back stories are amazingly detailed and are delivered at precisely the right moments. The supporting characters are also well developed and interesting. The villain is detestable.

The book moves at a good pace, there are quite a few unpredictable twists and turns that thicken the plot. There were a few places where the book was a bit overly descriptive for my taste, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment.

The only thing that truly bothered me was the ending. It was beautiful and perfect, but I am left with lack of completeness.

The Glass Magician - Book Review

Author: Charlie N Holmberg
Series: The Paper Magician Series #2
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Summary from Goodreads: Three months after returning Magician Emery Thane’s heart to his body, Ceony Twill is well on her way to becoming a Folder. Unfortunately, not all of Ceony’s thoughts have been focused on paper magic. Though she was promised romance by a fortuity box, Ceony still hasn’t broken the teacher-student barrier with Emery, despite their growing closeness.
When a magician with a penchant for revenge believes that Ceony possesses a secret, he vows to discover it…even if it tears apart the very fabric of their magical world. After a series of attacks target Ceony and catch those she holds most dear in the crossfire, Ceony knows she must find the true limits of her powers…and keep her knowledge from falling into wayward hands.
The delightful sequel to Charlie N. Holmberg’s The Paper Magician, The Glass Magician will charm readers young and old alike.

Rating: êê

Review

This book is a mediocre continuation of the story from the first book in the series.

Unfortunately, our main characters do not really develop at all. Their relationship continues to be confusing and sort of takes over the first half of he book, in a somewhat annoying way.

While there is action in this book, the reason is unclear. Usually I do not complain about characters making poor decisions in order to move the action and the plot forward, however I really struggled with this because I really didn't understand what they were fighting against. The villains do not have a clear motive and lack character development to truly make them detestable.

The writing is ok, but similar to the first book the story drags in places. There was also a strange jerky transition where we switch POV for a chapter which felt unnatural, like it was a filler.

I am curious about what where the third book will lead and what will happen with the two main characters and the stories are quick enough to read in a day or two so it is likely that I will complete the series.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Squee! I finally had the opportunity to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

My sisters and I enjoyed a day at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It was an AMAZING experience. Unfortunately, we went during a school break and the park was extremely packed, but that didn't take away from our enjoyment. Here are the highlights!

We arrived at the park bright and early and headed straight back to Diagon Alley. It was magical.

Our first stop was Ollivander's where we were able to watch a wand choose the wizard and purchase wands. We chose to purchase interactive wands so that we could cast spells in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. I chose Hermoine's wand and one of my sisters chose Luna's. If you choose to purchase an interactive wand, it comes with a map that shows where you can cast spells, but keep your eyes open for the medallions on the ground because there are some secret places to cast spells.

We roamed around Diagon Alley, casting spells and window shopping for a bit. There are some great shops including Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and a dark alley where you can find Borgin and Burkes.

Next we boarded the Hogwarts Express and headed over to Hogsmeade. We enjoyed some Butterbeer (deliciously sweet!) and wondered around exploring.

Then we enjoyed Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for a bit. It was so packed that they were giving out admission tickets with time frames for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Later we went back and went through Hogwarts (amazing) and rode the ride, as well as The Escape from Gringotts (unreal).

All in all, it was an awesome day! I'm most definitely looking forward to returning during a less busy time of the year.

The Paper Magician - Book Review

Author: Charlie N Holmberg
Series: The Paper Magician Series #1
Publication Date: September 1, 2014
Source: Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Summary from Goodreads: Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.
Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined—animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.
An Excisioner—a practitioner of dark, flesh magic—invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.

Rating: êêê

Review

This book had so much promise. It started out great, I was quickly sucked into England in the early 1900s where magicians bond to certain man made materials. Unfortunately, the world building didn't quite hold up for the duration of the story.

I was intrigued by the two main characters, Emery more so than Ceony. Ceony is like able and reasonably developed. But Emery really caught my attention, he was quirky and mysterious and I really wanted to know his story.

At about the 45% mark, the story began to drag. This is clearly meant to be the part that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but it just felt monotonous to me.

Overall, the writing is decent but it felt like the author was trying to tell the story so quickly that he forgot to tell you everything and left several details out or brushed past things.

However, the last few chapters of the book were redeeming. The climax and resolution are clear and exciting. The ending is sweet and left me interested in the next book.

2014 Challenge Recaps

During 2014, I participated in 5 different challenges. Here is a recap on my progress and successes.

Goodreads Reading Challenge

This year I set my Goodreads reading goal to 65 books because 2013 was hectic and I didn't get to meet my reading goal. I am happy that this year I exceeded my goal and read 75 books!

Love for Books Read-A-Thon

This Read-A-Thon challenge was hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and Amanda at Confessions of a Bookie Monster. My goal for this read-a-thon was to complete two books and I met this goal!

2014 Netgalley Challenge

The 2014 Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge is hosted by Falling for YA and will (hopefully) give you the incentive to tackle your review books, stumble upon new ones, and get your Netgalley percentage to the desired 80%! My goal for this challenge was 25 books and to get my percentage to at least 80%. I read 20 books and my percentage is 100%, so I sort of met this goal.

Blog Ahead Challenge

The Blog Ahead Challenge, which is a bloggery version of NaNoWriMo. It's hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup. It runs from November 1-30th, 2014 and the basic goal is to get "ahead" in your blog posts. My goal for this challenge was 15 pre-scheduled posts, and I completed 21! 

Top Ten of 2014 Challenge

This week long event was hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads, Rachel from Reading YA Rocks and Nancy fromTales of a Ravenous Reader! The event wass simple. Follow the dates and list topics as provided. I completed 4 out of the 5 lists.

Overall, I'd say for my first year of blogging, I feel really good about the goals I set for myself and the progress I made toward meeting them.

What challenges did you participate in this year? Do you feel you were successful? Do you have any challenges you are looking forward to in 2015?

Top Ten Tuesday #18 (12/30/2014)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and Bookish, and this weeks Top Ten is Top Ten Goal/Resolutions for 2015

These are my blogging and bookish goals for 2015

1. Host my own blogging challenge (this is already set in motion, so I will need participants hint hint)
2. Participate in at least 2 other bloggers' challenges
3. Increase my followers
4. Attend at least 2 bookish events
5. Be better about blogging in general
6. Read and comment on other blogs more
7. Read 70 books 
8. Re-do my blog design 
9. Organize my book shelf (I finally have a book shelf, now I just need to get the books out of their boxes)
10. Post at least twice a week

So, what are your blogger resolutions and goals for 2015?

Bookish Discussion: Giveaways

Seriously, who doesn't love the sweet satisfaction of winning something? And generally speaking in the book blogging world, who doesn't love getting a free book (or multiple free books), swag, and sometimes free money to spend on books?!

Book bloggers find lots of reasons to host giveaways. If you participate in a book tour, usually the publisher provides some sort of giveaway either for individual blogs or tour wide. Bloggers who are celebrating accomplishments (like blogoversaries, reaching a certain number of followers, or meeting a goal) host giveaways. Bloggers who host events (like challenges and read-a-thons) usually include a giveaway too.

As a blogger who enters these giveaways pretty regularly and would love to host more, I've got lots of questions:

My thinking face...lol

Where do bloggers get the books (or funds) for giveaways? 

I know that when you participate in a tour the publisher/author usually provides a free book or swag for a giveaway. But lots of bloggers are giving away ARCs, boxes of books, and dollar amounts to various online book retailers. Are bloggers clearing out their shelves and giving away their personal book collections? Are bloggers paying for these giveaways out of their own pockets? If a publisher sends you an ARC in the mail, are you allowed to use that ARC for a giveaway? How many bloggers out there are using affiliate links to finance their giveaways? How do affiliate links really work anyways? 

How do you decide how long to keep a giveaway open for entries?

Again, I know if a publisher or tour host is running the giveaway, that they make this call. But for bloggers who are doing this on their own, how do you decide how long to keep a giveaway open?

Do you make any options for entry mandatory in order to unlock other options for entry and if so, why?

I assume bloggers like to host giveaways in order to increase traffic and followers, so does making certain options like "follow via bloglovin" mandatory actually accomplish that? or does it prevent non-followers from entering? 

On the flip side of that, do you allow entrants to repeat any entries daily? Does allowing entrants to tweet (or some other option) every day for multiple entries actually help increase traffic and followers?

How do you decide what to giveaway?

How do you decide how many entries to assign each possible thing a person can do to enter?

How do you pay for shipping? Again, I'm wondering if most bloggers are paying out of pocket or using profit from affiliate links for this or maybe some other unknown source?

Do you host multiple giveaways at one time? If so, how do you stay organized?

I think those are all of my questions, for now. I'm sure more will come up as the discussion ensues!

Please feel free to share your answers and any questions about giveaways that you have in the comments!

Top 10 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2015

This week long event is hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads,  Rachel from Reading YA Rocks and Nancy fromTales of a Ravenous Reader!

Today's Topic is: Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2015

Covers Not Available

Throne of Glass #4 by Sarah J Maas
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Best Book Boyfriends of 2014

This week long event is hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads,  Rachel from Reading YA Rocks and Nancy fromTales of a Ravenous Reader!

Today's Topic is: Best Book Boyfriends of 2014

This list was pretty challenging for me. I realized that I haven't read too many books released in 2014. So here is my best shot!

Rowan from Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

Tristan from Stolen Songbird by Danielle Jensen

Damien from Defy by Sara B Larson

Perry from Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi

Kai from Cress by Marissa Meyer

Ink from Invisible by Dawn Metcalf

The Sacrifice

Author: AJ Nuest
Date of Publication: December 18, 2014
Source: Negalley

Summary from Goodreads: The second Faedrah Austiere walked into his life off the canvas, everything in Rhys McEleod’s world stopped making sense. Not only does her story sound like a Grimm’s fairy tale, evidently he’s been cast as the villain. If that isn’t enough, the mirror inside that old, beat up armoire at her uncle’s condo is supposedly a doorway to another world. Ever since the pathway opened, something inside him has seemed…off. If what his muse says is true, they are headed for an epic showdown, but he isn’t about to let her go. Nothing is more important than Faedrah’s protection, even if her parents refuse to accept him.
Though certain their fates are bound by more than the golden key Princess Faedrah wears around her neck, it is paramount Rhys’ true identity be kept secret. Should news of his bloodline ever reach her kingdom, their entire quest to save her people could be lost. Their only hope to prove his loyalty is to steal the map to the dark lord’s Crystal Crypt. Yet her a plan endangers her beloved more than the accusations he faces in her kingdom and, to escape evil’s grasp, she and Rhys must take a leap of faith beyond her wildest imagination.

Rating: êêê

Review
This book picks up where the first book left off. While the book was well written, it didn't quite hold my attention the way the first book did. It feels like the middle of a story rather than a story of its own.

The romance was amazingly well done. AJ Nuest can most definitely write a hot and steamy scene that makes you swoon. There is a hilarious meet the parents scene that shows you how Rowena and Caedmon are still the same, but have grown into their roles as parents. We also get to see another favorite from the Golden Key Chronicles, Violet. We learn lots of interesting information from Violet.

There was an interesting plot twist and a killer cliffhanger. Hopefully book three picks up exactly where book two left off.

Best Book Covers of 2014

This week long event is hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads,  Rachel from Reading YA Rocks and Nancy fromTales of a Ravenous Reader!

Today's topic is: Best Book Covers of 2014

Here are my favorite book covers of books released in 2014 that I've read.

Here are my favorite book covers of books released in 2014 that I haven't read (but really want to).

Best Books I've Read in 2014

This week long event is hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads, Rachel from Reading YA Rocks and Nancy fromTales of a Ravenous Reader! 

Today's topic is: Best Books I’ve Read in 2014 

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas: This is the book I was anticipating the most in 2014. I literally could not wait to get my hands on it. Sarah J Maas did not let me down, this was a powerful, emotional, and phenomenal book. Read my 5 Star Review here.

Stolen Songbird by Danielle Jensen: This book is one of a kind. Great writing, solid characters, and fantastic world building. This is a book that will suck you in. Read my 5 Star Review here.

Pawn by Aimee Carter: I won this book in a giveaway and didn't really know what to expect. It was unique and intense. Read my 5 Star Review here.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: Excellent world building, great pacing, un-put-downable. I loved the characters. This is one of those books I read is 24 hours, read my 5 Star Review here.

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Fun new characters with an interesting new twist on fairy tale retellings. Leaves you wanting more. Read my 4 Star Review here.

Cress by Marissa Meyer: The best in the series! I think I love the fairy tale retelling in this one the best, everything ties together so nicely. The character development was perfect. The plot moved quickly. Read my 5 Star Review here.

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer Nielsen: An action packed book with a likeable motley crew of characters. Great ending to a series. Read my 5 Star Review here.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: A captivating story about friendship. It's the type of book that you really should read a second time. Read my 4 Star Review here.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: I loved the main character. The story was interesting and complex. Read my 4 Star Review here.

Defy by Sara B Larson: Lots of action and secret schemes, good characters and I loved the fact that the main character was a female fighter. Read my 4 Star Review here.