Teaser Tuesday #4

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

----

Unfortunately due to uni I only finished one book since last week, leaving me with the other two I started still to be read. As I posted teasers for them last week, I'll skip doing them again this week. Since I did finish one book, I have started another, so here is the teaser for that one. =)

"I wait for Augie to disconnect when I hear three quick shots, followed by two more and Augie's piercing screams."
p. 9 One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf




Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here. Thanks!

Review: Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton

Author: Laurell K Hamilton
Publisher: Headline
Release Date: May 14th 2009 (first published 1993)
Genre: Adult/ Fantasy - Vampires
Obtained From: Borrowed From Library

★

Read from July 24 to 30, 2012

"Anita Blake may be small and young, but vampires call her the Executioner. Anita is a necromancer and vampire hunter in a time when vampires are protected by law—as long as they don't get too nasty. Now someone's killing innocent vampires and Anita agrees—with a bit of vampiric arm-twisting—to help figure out who and why. 

Trust is a luxury Anita can't afford when her allies aren't human. The city's most powerful vampire, Nikolaos, is 1,000 years old and looks like a 10-year-old girl. The second most powerful vampire, Jean-Claude, is interested in more than just Anita's professional talents, but the feisty necromancer isn't playing along—yet. This popular series has a wild energy and humor, and some very appealing characters—both dead and alive." - Source Goodreads

Ok, I've been tossing up between 1 or 2 stars. It came down to the fact that I skimmed part of it therefore meaning I wasn't enjoying it, so I settled on 1 star. I didn't hate it, but I think it's safe to say I will not be reading any more of this series. 
That said I know that Laurell Hamilton has loads of fans that love her books and that is awesome, it really is. I'm just not one of them. 

Those people that think (and say) if you didn't like it why did you read it - easy, I was intrigued by the book, by the people I have come across that loved it, and when I started reading it the world (what we were told of it) was intriguing. I wanted to know what happens. It is also very rare that I wont finish a book because no matter much I might not like it, there are things that I do and most of the time that is the plot. In this case, a who-dun-it. I wanted to know the answer. Its as simple as that. 

The vampires and the world are interesting. It would have been more interesting if more detail would have been provided. 

My problem with this book and therefore my attitude and rating towards it is mainly due to Anita.

Anita is insufferable. She is mean, arrogant, and overly blunt. Her constant use of "Naw" drove me crazy. It was doubly so when she was using it in response to her own rhetorical questions and conversations with herself. Everything she describes is agony to read. This book could have been half the size if the clothing and gun details, and Anita's conversations with herself had been removed. That 'space' would have been better spent on explaining the vampire myths (4 bites, etc) and how any of the other creatures came about. 

I didn't care for any of the other characters, to me they were like space fillers, empty shells there to help the story along and nothing else. I didn't care what happened to them. Jean-Claude's slow seduction of Anita was in part mildly interesting. 

If anyone can tell me how you do a "hubba hubba" motion with your hand and what it looks like, I'd love to know. I had no idea what it was about! 

I have never skimmed a book, it's just not something I want to do, but I could not bare the babbling any longer and just wanted to get to end and see what the point was. *sigh* I must admit I had higher hopes for this and feel kind of let down. :-(

Stacking The Shelves #3

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Thanks to the host Tynga's Reviews.

Guidelines:

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

Book Haul 

Purchased

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Muse by Rebecca Lim

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Mummy From Hell by Ken Doyle & Patrick Doyle

Evernight by Claudia Gray

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

* as these are photos of the books I purchased they don't link to Goodreads. Click on the title name in the list underneath instead. :)

I purchased a few too many books this week. All to be added to my TBR list - which never seems to run down. :/

For Review

Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

From BookTrope Editions

What did you add to your shelves this week? :)

Friday Book Blogger Hop #3

This hop is hosted by Jen from Crazy for Books, Thanks Jen!

This weeks question:

What is one thing that your blog readers probably do not know about you?

My answer:

That's a little easy! 

One thing that everyone would probably not know is that I'm married and have a nearly 4 year old son. =)

What about you? Leave me a link to your answer or post it in the comments! I'd love to hear your answer. =)

WWW Wednesday #3

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I'm currently reading 2 ARCs I have received, plus a library book I borrowed. Unfortunately thanks to uni starting last week, reading is going slow which doesn't make me happy as I am SO HAPPY to be able to read and review Throne of Glass and Stormdancer.  *Sigh*

 

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished Exile by Rebecca Lim, my review here, and Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake, my review here. Short version, I enjoyed them both. =)

What do you think you’ll read next?

I have no idea. At the rate I'm going it wouldn't surprise me if I'm still reading at least one of my current reads next week as well. =( I have lots of books I have to read therefore it could be anything!

Please leave a comment with your WWW Wednesday. I'd love to hear from you! =)

***If you want to learn more about the books, please just click on the covers. It will take you to Goodreads. =)

Teaser Tuesday #3

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"She wanted  to leap from her horse and run to them, or to simply scream that she wasn't a part of this prince's court, that she has no hand in bringing them here, chained and starved and beaten, that she had worked and bled with them, with their families and friends - she was not like these monsters that destroyed everything. That she had done something, nearly two years ago, when she had freed almost two hundred slaves from the Pirate Lord. Even that, though, wasn't enough." Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass - Location 475 10% Kindle Edition

"She tried to keep the misery at bay, thinking of the bamboo valley, the warm stretches of green grass and crystal-clear water, shimmering  with heat. But thoughts of the valley brought her back to her father, the bitter words they had shared before the Thunder Child fell from the skies. 

The slap on her cheek.

The hiss through gritted teeth."  Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, p118.

"I was feeling better, much better. I shouldn't have been recovering this quickly. I had been hurt before, badly. It didn't just fade, not like this." Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton, p56.





Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here. Thanks!

Review: Anna Dressed In Blood (Anna #1)

Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen

Release Date: August 30, 2011

Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal

Obtained from: Purchased

★★★★

Read from July 11 to 21, 2012

"Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life." - Goodreads

This a great YA debut from Kendare Blake. I really liked her writing style and she can definitely write creepy scenes! Anna Dressed In Blood is a interesting book. 

When I first started reading I thought the main character was female. It took me a few minutes to understand that Cas was a male. I liked Cas. I have read a few people saying he was annoying or self important but I didn't take him that way. He hasn't really had much of a normal life, so I couldn't blame him for his 'lack of social skills.' ;)

Anna was an great character. I was drawn to know more about her and why is was the way she was. Her story was sad and it made it easy to be sympathetic towards her. 

The villian I never saw coming, nor some of the death's along the way. Plus the "snake" the villian had just made me want to punch his lights out! 

While I enjoyed the story, there were a few things that I didn't like or that were missing. 

1. It was never explained why she didn't want to hurt Cas.

2. Nothing was mentioned as to what made Anna that way.

3. The romance between Cas and Anna was not for me. Ghosts that you can touch just didn't seem right. 

I'll be looking forward to reading the sequel when it gets released. 

Stacking The Shelves (#2)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Thanks to the host Tynga's Reviews.

Guidelines:

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

Book Haul 

Only a small haul this week for me as I'm still waiting on my purchase to be sent to me. =( 
However, I did get: 




For Review

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff 
Thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley

Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas
Thanks to Bloomsbury  and Netgalley

What did you add to your shelves this week? =)

Friday Book Blog Hop #2

This hop is hosted by Jen from Crazy for Books, Thanks Jen!

This weeks question:

What’s the ONE super-hyped book you’ll NEVER read?

My Answer:

I don't think I would never read a book just because it's super-hyped up. That's not to say I'm going to automatically like the book, or automatically hate it. I would want to read it, hyped or not, so I can read it, and then form my own opinion on it. 

What about you? Leave me a link to your answer or post it in the comments! I'd love to hear your answer. =)

Review: Exile (Mercy #2)

Author: Rebecca Lim
Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: May 1, 2011

Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal

Obtained from: Library

★★★★

Read from July 11 to 19, 2012

"An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, EXILE is the breathtaking sequel to MERCY in a major new paranormal romance series.

There's something very wrong with me. When I wake up, I could be anyone…
An angel in exile, Mercy is doomed to return repeatedly to Earth, taking on a new human form each time she does. Now she "wakes" as unhappy teen Lela, a girl caring for a dying mother but never herself.
As her shattered memory begins to return, Mercy remembers Ryan, the boy she fell in love with in another life, and Luc, the angel haunting her dreams. Will Mercy risk Lela’s life to be reunited with her heart’s true desire?
An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, Exile is the second book in the spellbinding MERCY series." - Goodreads

Exile takes off from Mercy #1 with Mercy now being in Lela's body. Compared to Mercy #1 this book is more confined with a depressing setting. Mercy #1 had much more interaction with other characters and the story was not only about Mercy, but also her host Carmen. Exile shows Mercy's selfish side. She wants to contact Ryan and that's it. 

"This time it's about me. It's my time now, and if I have to climb over the bodies of lovelorn IT guys to get the answers I'm seeking, then so be it."

 It was unfortunate, especially considering the circumstances she was in - or more correctly, that Lela was in.  However, I can also understand why. I'd want to know what was happening too!

Now I said that Exile's setting was depressing, and it was - Exile is set mainly in either Lela's home with her dying mother, or at Lela's work, The Green Lantern, in a cafe with the same repeat sad, unhappy characters. The advantage of that, and Rebecca Lim's writing ability, was that I felt the characters unhappiness and wanted something more positive for them, just like they wanted something better themselves. I wanted something good to happen. And while something good came out of it, so did some bad things. 

I still like Mercy, despite her selfishness in this book, and think she is a strong, though slightly lost and confused, protagonist. I was able understand more about Mercy's past and character and believe that Exile is for this purpose more then a story like Mercy #1. 
I was able to dislike Luc a lot more in this book too. I had a bad feeling about him in Mercy #1, and Exile has started to confirm that for me. 

Ranald was a good new character. He gave me the creeps. I knew something was up with him but I didn't see what was coming. However, I was silently screaming at Mercy for trusting him to set up her profile. I just knew it was a bad idea. 

Over all, this book is an easy read which kept my attention and I was emotional in parts but I think that's just me as what Lela's mum was going through made me think of what my Dad must of felt like. For this reason I think I felt for Lela and the fact that she was "taken over" by Mercy which of course then limits her time with her mum. 
The end was a sad, even though when Azraeil and Mercy had an encounter, I knew what it meant. It was still sad and in a way not fair. 

I'm waiting on my book order as Muse (Mercy #3) is in there (I already have Fury (Mercy #4) which I purchased in confusion, but that's another story). I really like Rebecca Lim's writing style and definitely want to see where this ends up. 

WWW Wednesdays (#2)

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I'm reading Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. This one is on my kindle and I'm enjoying it. It is not what I expected and the teaser I featured here on Tuesday is not said by Anna. ;) I will read the next book in the series hopefully in the not too distant future. 

The second book I'm currently reading is Exile by Rebecca Lim. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Mercy and when I was at the library I saw this and decided to grab it and see where the rest of the story goes. So far I'm 68% through it and I'm not sure how I feel about it, but a review wont be far away. 

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished Insurgent by Veronica Roth and you can read my review here. I enjoyed it, not as much as the first book in the series, but I will read the next in the series to see what happens. 

What do you think you’ll read next?

For once I can say I know exactly what I will read next thanks to the wonderful people at St Martins Press and the equally wonderful people at Bloomsbury Publishing for the eARC's that they have provided me with. Those ARC's being:

 

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (St Martin's Press)

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here. Thanks! 

Teaser Tuesday (#2)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"He makes it sound so easy. But for someone who doesn't do spells and spent the last night being tossed like a rubber ball, it's going to be damn near impossible."

Location 1346 or 3732, 36% on Kindle edition.

Anna Dressed In Blood  by Kendare Blake

"'Deal,' I shoot back, not intending to stick around long enough to have to go through with anything. This time it's about me. It's my time now, and if I have to climb over the bodies of lovelorn IT guys to get the answers I'm seeking, then so be it."

P. 113 

Exile by Rebecca Lim

Leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here. Thanks!

Review: Insurgent (Divergent #2)

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: May 1st, 2012

Genre: Young Adult - Post Apocalyptic, Action/Adventure

★★★

Read from July 04 to 11, 2012

First of all, let me say that this was a great sequel. It was interesting and you were able to get to know the characters better. 

I was really keen to read Insurgent. I started as soon as I finished Divergent, I just had to know what happens to Tris. 

Now bare in mind, if you haven't read it, this does have some spoilery elements as it's hard to say what I don't like without mentioning parts of it. So consider this your spoiler alert :)

While I enjoyed Insurgent, there were a few things I didn't like.

Tris was not my favourite character in Insurgent. The strong, awesome character she was in Divergent just wasn't here this time. I understood what she went through, and how that would affect her, yet it was tiring hearing the useless, giving up actions and how it influenced every action she did. No matter what, I expected better of her then the rash, careless decisions she did this time round. 

There was also the irrational decision to help Marcus. He didn't trust her enough to share details, she hates him for what he did to Four, yet she helps him. 

Now we learn about the Outside world, and the factions and waiting for the divergents to emerge. To save humanity. :/ I'm not sure how that's going to work and will have to wait for the next in the series to find it out I guess. 

Romance wasn't a priority in Divergent but there was a heavier focus in Insurgent.  

Insurgent didn't grab me as much as Divergent but I didn't hate it. It is still a great read and I'm looking forward to the third instalment in the series to see where this goes. 

Stacking The Shelves (#1)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Thanks to the host Tynga's Reviews.

Guidelines:

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

Book Haul 

Library

Exile by Rebecca Lim

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton

Purchased

Starters by Lissa Price

I didn't add much this week as I have a pile to get through already, plus I'm waiting on a purchase I made through the Book Depository, which will hopefully be in by next weeks Stacking the Shelves. =)

What did you add to your shelves this week?