Book Covers

Book Covers I Spotted This Week

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

An Ember in the Ashes

by Sabaa Tahir 

Publication: April 28th 2015 by Razorbill

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier— and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Vow your blood and body to the empire.
Keep your heart for yourself.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is Ten Book Cover Trends I Like/Dislike

Dislike

1. Extreme Close Up

2. No Forehead/Head 

3. Couples

4. Kissing 

5. Flashspots

Like

1. The Font Placed in a Neat Way 

 

2. Dresses/Gear

3. A Nice Blend of Colours

4. Writing Being the Main Focus 

 

5. Creepy

Book Covers

Book Covers I Spotted This Week

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare Book Review

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

“That kind of love that can burn down the world or raise it up in glory.”

One thing I really like about the Mortal Instrument Series is that this isn’t just Clary or Jace’s story and City of Fallen Angels emphasis this because this was Simon’s story as well. In a sense there are two different stories that connect together in the end.

So Simon is a Daylighter and that makes him one of a kind but he also bears the Mark of Cain which means he has top notch protection.  He can kill an enemy without moving a muscle and this scares him. Understandable.

 Although Simon is a vampire he puts on a façade of him being a normal human boy essentially a mundane and he truly believes he can be a normal boy that is until he has a wakeup call. When Simon’s mother finds out what he is, Simon realises he’ll never fit in with humans and not even with Shadowhunters.  This view has been told to him by Raphael and Camille – the ex leader of the Vampires and powerful one at that who also wants Simon.

When Jordan a new band mate in Simon’s band lets Simon crash round his, Simon finds out that Jordan is the werewolf who bit Maia and was her ex boyfriend.

Whilst Clary is dealing with not only wedding preparation for her mother’s wedding to Luke but relationship problems with Jace. Jace is pulling away from her unexpectedly and he’s avoiding her

.

But Clary is strong and instead of breaking down and whining she knows there are more important matters like the recent Shadowhunter deaths. Clary is training to be a Shadowhunter so she’s not fully trained and yet she’s willing to help with the issues regarding the deaths. 

Clary’s story also involves the unexpected death of a new born who was abandoned. Once Clary and her mother visit the baby they realise someone is trying to make another Jonathan/Sebastian. 

When she gains information on the whereabouts of where the demon baby was created she decides to go alone. However she’s does call for back up and she chose Isabelle showing that although Jace is the best Shadowhunter Clary doesn`t have to choose him, she has other people she can rely on. 

Whilst Jace is having nightmares that are being brought on by a demon and he’s terrified that he will kill Clary so he avoids her. Though he might be heartbroken he still helps people, he helps Simon . One thing I like about Clary and Jace’s relationship is that when Clary demanded answers even though she was afraid he would leave her Jace decided to tell her about the nightmares and they both trusted each other.

However with Jace having shitty luck, he still ends up being controlled by the mother of all demons.   

In the party hosted by Luke and Jocelyn; Simon, Clary and Jace all go missing.  Isabelle, Maia, Jordan and Alec know something’s wrong when Simon goes missing so they go after him.

So this is when the stories entwine because the person killing these babies, the person controlling Camille (who was killing the Shadowhunter), the person trying to get Simon and the person controlling Jace is the same person. It’s Lilith the greater demon.

Shit goes down and by that I mean Lilith trying to bring Sebastian back from the dead, Jace saving the day and Simon killing Lilith.

Also Simon killed Lilith but the Shadowhunter’s still treat him like an enemy because even if he saved their lives and is friends with some of them he’s only ever going to be a Downworlder to them and this is important to this story because it shows that Simon will always be the outsider.  

 But that ending – like hasn`t Jace been through enough. Hasn’t his relationship with Clary just finally been back to normal? Good grief they’re never gonna catch a break.

Also it wouldn`t hurt anybody to have more Alec and Magnus scenes.

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

Fairest 

by Marissa Meyer 

Publication: January 27th 2015 by Macmillan

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now. 

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.

The Orphan Queen 

by Jodi Meadows

Publication: March  2015 by Katherine Tegen Books

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Books On My Summer TBR list

Book Covers

Book Covers I Spotted This Week

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

Anatomy of a Misfit

by Andrea Portes 

Publication: September 2nd 2014 by Harper Children’s, 336 pages

This emotional, hilarious, devastating, and ultimately triumphant YA debut, based on actual events, recounts one girl’s rejection of her high school’s hierarchy—and her discovery of her true self in the face of tragedy.

Fall’s buzzed-about, in-house favorite. Outside, Anika Dragomir is all lip gloss and blond hair—the third most popular girl in school. Inside, she’s a freak: a mix of dark thoughts, diabolical plots, and, if local chatter is to be believed, vampire DNA (after all, her father is Romanian). But she keeps it under wraps to maintain her social position. One step out of line and Becky Vilhauer, first most popular girl in school, will make her life hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can’t get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life? Who cares if the right girl could help him with all that, maybe even save him from it? Who needs him when Jared Kline, the bad boy every girl dreams of, is asking her on dates? Who?

Anatomy of a Misfit is Mean Girls meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Anika’s hilariously deadpan delivery will appeal to readers for its honesty and depth. The so-sad-it’s-funny high school setting will pull readers in, but when the story’s dark foreboding gradually takes over, the devastating penultimate tragedy hits like a punch to the gut. Readers will ride the highs and lows alongside funny, flawed Anika—from laughter to tears, and everything in between.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

The Bunker Diary

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks

This review contains spoilers

How would it feel to have the power to control someone’s life, to play God?

“You know, the kinds of games that let you play God. Yeah, I can see Him liking that. He’s bound to be that kind of person.”

Imagine being kidnapped and drugged and then waking up in a strange place. 

That’s what happens to Linus.

Imagine discovering the person who kidnapped you was spying on you and listening to your every word. How would you feel?                   

Linus tries to do everything in his will to stop this and nothing works because he’s not the one with the power.

What would you do when you’re joined by 5 other strangers?                                                                                                                                                                                                               

There’s Jenny, the sweet little girl who saves them with her innocence.                       

There’s Fred, the drug addict whose strength saves everybody.                                         

There’s Anja, the greedy one but the food will save them later on.                               

There’s Bird, the fat guy who’s a killer.                                                                                         

There’s Russell, the thinker who helps Linus.                                                                                     

And then there’s Linus, the smart one.

What happens when he decides to test everybody?                                                                      

Fred takes the drugs, Anja takes the cigarettes and Bird takes the alcohol.  The Unknown man is clever enough to play them against their weaknesses, the game begins…..

What happens when you try to escape?                                                                                 

They’re all frightened and scared so they’ll try anything to escape.                                   

But the Unknown man isn’t stupid, he’s omniscient and he won’t let them fight back.     

For they will then be punished.                                                                                                       

At first it’s just the gas making them ill and the food not arriving.                                     

But when there’s still no hope of being saved or getting out, Linus gets desperate. And that’s when things get much worse; no apology will help them this time.

What happens?                                                                                                                                            

Everybody gets ill from the gas and weak from the lack of food and then comes the rabid dog. The dog bites Bird and this makes Bird go crazy and later on he ends up strangling Anja till she dies. One down. Bird is then tied up, but he’s gone wild and chews his way out. He goes after Jenny. Fred saves Jenny but ends up killing Bird. Two down. While this is happening, Russell who has a brain tumour and is slowly dying kills himself. He smashes his glass eye and uses the broken pieces to cut his wrist open, he bleeds out and Linus finds him. Three down.

After this the Unknown man either leaves them or his patience runs out because the generator turns off leaving them with no electricity in the dark and no food and water is supplied.  Fred, Jenny and Linus are slowly dying. Fred is the first one to crack and he drinks the bleach from the bathroom and has a painful death, Jenny dies in Linus’s lap from starvation and dehydration and Linus follows shortly.

The Writing Style                                                                                                                                

The entire book is written from Linus’s point of view, he writes everything in this journal that the Unknown man placed in every room. It’s a fast paced book and has this slightly tense/creepy atmosphere to it. You realise from Linus’s pov how adding a group of people together is both a bad thing and good thing in this situation.

The Ending       

                                                                                                                           

  “this is what I know                                                                                                                                 

it doesn`t hurt any more                                                                                                               

   this is ”  

It leaves you thinking ….

Book Covers

Book Covers I Spotted This Week

After the Snow

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett

“And it had been my voice. It always been my voice.”

Willo is a 15 year old who lives in the Hills with his family until the day everybody disappears and Willo is left behind alone.

Part 1 of this book consists of Willo talking about his father, the leader of their group and someone who believes that there is a better possibility of how to live their lives than in the hills. Magda, the stepmother and the person who looks after the children and then there’s Alice, the 14 year old sister who is married and has a child with the neighbour who’s older than her father. Finally there’s Patrick a stranger who joins the family.  

Whilst others are learning to read, Willo would rather be talking to dog. After finding the skull of a dog also the leader of the pack. Willo finds that this dog talks to him. It’s basically his conscience. The dog tells him good advice, things that save him whilst the mad dog tells him things that aren’t bad but will probably put his life in danger like saving Mary.

Mary is a 13 year old who lives near Willo, one day when Willo is debating over what to do now that he’s alone he finds Mary and her brother. Both of them are starving and near death. Dog tells him to run as he doesn’t have the food or strength to take care for them, Willo does this but mad dog tells him he can’t just leave them behind.

Willo saves Mary but it’s too late to save her brother. Willo and Mary journey to the roads where some military truck will probably pick Mary up however some greybeards (cannibals) chase them and they both end up hiding in a truck and going to the city.

That was the end of part 1. The good part.

Part 2 is basically Willo making a few mistakes like abandoning Mary and ending up working for an older couple. It was written in a way that was fast paced but the story was boring. Nothing interesting happened and in both part 1 and 2 and the story is just an uninteresting life story of Willo working on coats and boots.  With no suspense built up when the action happens it’s totally unexpected and useless.  Yes we find out the truth behind this “beacon of hope” but nothing in part 1 or 2 hinted that this person was untrustworthy and would betray him.

But I did like the ending; everybody’s trying to find this Island. The Island where you can restart your life but Willo realises that the “beacon of hope” isn’t the island.  It’s inside you.

“A pretty skin for certain. But underneath it all a squirming mass of flesh and maggots.”

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

Inland

by Kat Rosenfield 

Publication:  June 12th 2014 by Dutton Juvenile, 304 pages

After nine years spent suffocating in the arid expanses of the Midwest, far from the sea where her mother drowned, Callie Morgan and her estranged father are returning to the coast. And miraculously, Callie can finally breathe easily. No more sudden, clawing attacks and week-long hospital stays. No more wary, pitying glances from classmates and teachers. She can be more than a sickly freak, coughing her way between nondescript inland towns every year.

But something waits for Callie in the water. Just as her life begins to feel like her own, with an almost-family and a first love and a circle of loud-mouthed friends, her body starts to rebel in new ways. She finds herself fighting the intoxicating pull of the black waters right outside her window. Her dreams turn wild and real, and she wakes up with salt water in her hair. Family secrets and whispering doubts flood her brain as she leads herself and those around her into danger, jeopardizing everything she once longed for. Is it madness, or is there a voice, beckoning her to come to the sea’s deepest heart; to come home? 

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Books That Should Be In My Beach Bag

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

“But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her”

#scandal by Sarah Ockler

“When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… “

On the Fence by Kasie West 

“She's a tomboy. He's the boy next door…”  

Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols

“What started as a lighthearted fling is about to get very complicated…”

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn

“Summer, boys, and friendships gone sour.”

My Last Kiss by Bethany Neal 

“What if your last kiss was with the wrong boy?”

The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor

“Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this “cowboy” is everything Brady is not—gentle, caring, and interested in getting to know the real Bettina.”

Dark Days by Kate Ormand

“There is something that draws Sia to him, despite his dangerousness”

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

“An action-packed, blood-soaked, futuristic debut thriller set in a world where the murder rate is higher than the birthrate.”

Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard

“Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late.”