Teaser Tuesdays #5

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! 

 " 'I like it,' Augie said imperiously.
'Mom's going to kill you,' P.J. said, trying to keep a straight face. 'Mom said coloring your hair is like drinking. Once you start, it's hard to stop.' "

p. 169 One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

"By the time Rae Ann and I pulled into the parking lot, we were weary, muddy, mystified, battle-tested, and hankering for food. Our last sustenance had been around nine o'clock. Deep fried chocolate cake stuffed with Twinkies and ice cream in Grafton."
"I've chewed this gum so long I'm putting flavor back  into it."

loc 141, 3% Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

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

Review: Throne Of Glass (Throne Of Glass #1)

Author: Sarah J Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: 7th August 2012
Genre: Young Adult - Fantasy
Obtained From: ARC from Bloomsbury

★★★★★

Read from July 19 to August 6, 2012

"After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined." - Goodreads

 When I was about half way through I read on another blog that this book was originally called 'Queen of Glass' and was a retelling of Cinderella. I have to admit that at the point I was at I hadn't noticed. As I read on I could see some similarities to Cinderella but nothing that made me want to stop reading it. Also a few people have commented on the premise sounding like 'The Hunger Games' - its not. Really, it's not. 

Throne of Glass is full of action, mystery, Fae, magic, likeable characters and great dialogue. 
My only regret, is that I didn't take more time to read it over a shorter period instead of the weeks it took me. =( It was the kind of book I'd read and finish in a day or two. 

The plot was slightly predictable, but even if I guessed at who the villian might be I still enjoyed and wanted to read the story. While I knew who the villian was there were a few interesting details I didn't foresee which just made it more enjoyable to read.

The characters are awesome and well developed. 
Celaena is a great strong female character who speaks her mind, is confident, smart and witty. 
Nehemia is another fantastic strong lead female character in the book who I hope to see more of in the next novel. She is seriously underestimated and I look forward to seeing how that develops. 

Both Captain Chaol Westfall and Prince Dorian have a strong presence and are loyal companions. The dialogue between them and Celaena was something I really enjoyed reading thanks to the witty remarks thrown back and forth. 

There is a (sort of) love triangle but it is subtle and I felt it blended in with the story rather then being a main focus. It will be interesting to see how it develops in the next books. 

The writing and depth of Throne of Glass is brilliant and inside world of the castle superbly done. There are only glimpses of the world outside the castle and it will be great to learn more in the next book. 

 ARC was provided by Bloomsbury via Netgalley. Thank you! =)

Staking The Shevles #4

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

I was very good this week and didn't buy any more books (the one I did get was purchased a little while ago, but only turned up this week). I'm restraining from buying any more until I read a good percentage of what I have already, plus trying to explain to hubby why I want more books just isn't working very well when I have so many to read already. =( 

What I did get =)

Purchased

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

For Review

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire


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

Friday Book Blogger Hop #4

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

This weeks question:

When a book goes “viral” (Hunger Games, Fifty Shades, Twilight), do you rush out to read it like everyone else, even if it’s not in your typical genre?

No, not generally. The Hunger Games was probably the only exception and it was because I don't like to see a movie until after I have read the book. I really wanted to see the movie so I read the trilogy a couple of weeks before the movie. The Hunger Games is a genre that I read though.  

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

Feature & Follow Friday #1

Feature and Follow Friday is host by Parajunkee and Allison Can Read and give bloggers a topic to discuss each week while discovering new blogs.

Q: Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?

I wouldn't say my reading habits change based on my mood. I find I go through genre phrases where I'll read a lot of one genre, then switch to another. I also have to see what book I feel like reading. Sometimes I can pick up one book and find I can't get into it so I switch to something else. Then when I try that first book again at another time I can read it and love it. 

WWW Wednesday #4

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?

Once again, thanks to uni commitments, I haven't been able to finish Throne of Glass, and I had to stop reading Stormdancer until I get through Throne of Glass. It was just too much to try to read 3 books, and it was way to slow too! lol

Therefore, I'm reading:

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton. I didn't really like it especially since it dragged and I just had to skim the last 100 odd pages. My review can be found here.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I know that I will be starting (finishing) Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. I also have another book that was given to me for review, Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin so I will most likely be reading that as well. 

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. =)

August 2012 Book Releases

There are loads of books coming out this month, and these are just a few. Leave a comment to let me know what you are looking forward to being released this month! =)

 *To learn more about any of these books just click on them to be taken to their Goodreads page. =)