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Saturday, 28 April 2018
Weekly Wrap Up
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kim @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
Week Gone By
It's Monday, what are you reading?
Waiting on Wednesday
Perfect by Cecelia Ahern - Review
Book Blogger Hop
Waiting on Wednesday
Perfect by Cecelia Ahern - Review
Book Blogger Hop
The Week Ahead
I won't bother putting the memes I'm participating in, but I am hoping to get these reviews finished this week.
As she fades by Abbi Glines - Book Review
Passengers by Alexandra Bracken - Book Review
Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken - Book Review
As she fades by Abbi Glines - Book Review
Passengers by Alexandra Bracken - Book Review
Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken - Book Review
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!
ARC
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| Sourcebooks Fire |
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| Text Publishing |
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| Another World Press |
Audible
I am unsure if I have read Life After Theft, but I like the premise of a criminal trying to do the right thing once passed. Glitter I had never seen before, but I love the setting at Versailles. I'm a bit of an Aprilynne Pike fan as I really enjoyed her Wings series.
The last 3 have been just ones I've seen around the blogosphere; Marie Lu and Marissa Meyer are both amazing YA Authors so it's just an auto-pilot thing to get their books. Caraval I ended up picking up because it was in Hailey in Bookland's March Wrap-Up Video, check it out! Do you watch Booktubers, if so comment below and link me up to your favourite ones.
Friday, 27 April 2018
Book Blogger Hop - Writing to Authors
Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop's purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
This week's Question?
Have you ever thought of writing a respectful, but angry letter to an author to ask them WHY they killed off one of your favorite characters in a novel?
(Suggested by Maria from A Night's Dreams of Books)
I cannot think, of the top of my head a favourite character that has been killed off, not to say there hasn't been, but I can't remember, so my answer for this week is no.
However, I am not opposed to emailing an Author...well wanting to anyway, to ask them what happened to the characters beyond the book. A lot of times I'm really interested with secondary characters as most books wrap it up for the main characters but you are so curious about the secondary characters, what happens to them???
Am I the only strange one that wants to know what happens to the characters beyond what the Author has written?
Next Week @ Book Blogger's Hop
Do you ever feel like you have emerged better for reading a book?
Thursday, 26 April 2018
Perfect by Cecelia Ahern
Perfect
by Cecelia Ahern
Website | Goodreads | TwitterSeries: Flawed #2
Released:
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine's life has completely fractured--all her freedoms gone.
Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the public, she has been a ghost, on the run with Carrick--the only person she can trust.
But Celestine has a secret--one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. A secret that has already caused countless people to go missing.
Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand, and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save just herself or to risk her life to save all Flawed people.
And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human in itself is to be Flawed?
Perfect begins immediately after Flawed. Celestine is on the run, having left her family home, and being ferociously chased by Crevan. If that's not enough she has also evaded the Whistleblowers so they are also searching for her.
Cecelia takes us into another nail biting, fast-paced, action-packed journey as we follow Celestine through her new life, a Flawed life. I was beyond moved at the amount of growth Celestine made in this book, she wasn't that likeable in book 1, but she truly makes a comeback with a bang in this book. She became a driver in her own life rather than a passenger and she finally sees the system for what it is and has come to accept that being "Flawed" is in fact being "human". By the end of the book not only had Celestine accepted she is Flawed, but she became a poster-child for their cause, giving hope to the thousands of Flawed, and those that don't believe the system is fair and just.
My only gripe with the book is that maybe it should have been made into a trilogy, as I felt like things happened too quickly. One chapter they are being raided by Whistleblowers and just scraping by to get away, and the next chapter they're doing a similar thing. Due to the extremely fast-pace I did not get to immerse myself into the current situation before the plot is welcoming another situation already. I also felt disconnected to the relationships between characters. There were several new secondary characters that all have some type of relationship to our main characters, but I did not "feel" their connection because by the time I was starting to understand their relationship, where they stand in each others lives...things happen and the building of their relationship doesn't feel complete. I felt like I was running for something, narrowly missing it; right there but just out of my grasp, that's how I felt whilst reading some parts of the scenes of this book. I'd have liked more interactions between the characters before they are off to save each others lives when I felt like they had just known each other for a minute.
Lets talk about Carrick and Celestine for a minute. I just did not get their "love" to be honest. I understand their connection at the Guild prison cells but beyond that, everything else seemed unlikely. Again, I feel like their "love story" took a backseat to the main plot, which I don't mind, but I didn't understand some of their actions because I felt like it was too over the top for what their relationship was. I seen Carrick and Celestine as partners in crime, friends, but not "in love". I felt like Celestine and Art had more chemistry than the former.
So many of the characters from Flawed had incredible growth in Perfect. My favourite is Celestine's Grandfather and more so, her Mother. Why her Mother over Grandfather who's always been there for her, because her Mother went and did a complete 360 in transformation, or more likely, she finally got the courage to let her true self out. I enjoyed every "F$%@ You" that her Mother showed to the Guild whether big or small.
As per my Flawed review, I wish we got a bit more background information on why the world became the way it is. However, I do like the world as it's dystopian but a highly realistic world that is a possibility in our current world.
Overall I really enjoyed Flawed and Perfect, read the duo-logy in 3 days. Cecelia Ahern is a gifted writer that somehow attracts her readers and have them gripping each page hoping it never ends. Her characters are very relatable and their character growth is always amazing. The world, so close to our own it nearly doesn't qualify as "dystopian", is truly an interesting part of this duo-logy. I am hoping that Cecelia Ahern continues with her venture in Young Adult as this foray into this genre as been a hit.
Sneak Peek
Trailer
Buy It Now
Associate links are used on this post
Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Waiting on Wednesday
Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted Breaking the Spine.
Talon by Julie Kagawa
Series: Talon #5Publication Date: April 24, 2018
TODAY, WE STRIKE BACK.
WE SHOW TALON THAT WE WILL NEVER ACCEPT THEIR NEW WORLD.
Ember Hill has learned a shocking truth about herself: she is the blood of the Elder Wyrm, the ancient dragon who leads Talon and who is on the verge of world domination. With the Order of St. George destroyed, Ember, Riley and Garret journey to the Amazon jungle in search of one who might hold the key to take down the Elder Wyrm and Talon—if they can survive the encounter.
Meanwhile, Ember’s brother, Dante, will travel to China with a message for the last Eastern dragons: join Talon or die. With the stakes rising and the Elder Wyrm declaring war, time is running out for the rogues and any dragon not allied with Talon.
The final battle approaches. And if Talon is victorious, the world will burn.
I am currently listening to Legion book 4 in the Talon series and I have thoroughly enjoyed this series! This is the series that got me into listening to Audiobooks. Have you read the Talon series? How are you liking it? What books are you waiting on?
WE SHOW TALON THAT WE WILL NEVER ACCEPT THEIR NEW WORLD.
Ember Hill has learned a shocking truth about herself: she is the blood of the Elder Wyrm, the ancient dragon who leads Talon and who is on the verge of world domination. With the Order of St. George destroyed, Ember, Riley and Garret journey to the Amazon jungle in search of one who might hold the key to take down the Elder Wyrm and Talon—if they can survive the encounter.
Meanwhile, Ember’s brother, Dante, will travel to China with a message for the last Eastern dragons: join Talon or die. With the stakes rising and the Elder Wyrm declaring war, time is running out for the rogues and any dragon not allied with Talon.
The final battle approaches. And if Talon is victorious, the world will burn.
I am currently listening to Legion book 4 in the Talon series and I have thoroughly enjoyed this series! This is the series that got me into listening to Audiobooks. Have you read the Talon series? How are you liking it? What books are you waiting on?
Monday, 23 April 2018
It's Monday, What are you reading?
It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Book Date. It is where we show what we are currently reading and what we are planning to read for the week. I will also link up to the YA version of this meme hosted at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.
Currently Reading
Kindle
Audible
Paperback
This Week
What are you reading this week? Please comment below so I can also check out your Reads for this week. Happy Reading!
Sunday, 22 April 2018
Weekly Wrap-Up
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kim @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
I have just recently started reading again let alone blogging. About a month ago I started reading regularly again, I never fully stopped reading but I certainly was not reading as often as I used to, or as much as I had liked to, but I kind of got my groove back a month ago. A week after I commenced reading again, tragedy struck my family, my 14 year old furbaby passed away, and because blogging was our bonding time; as she'd sit with me whilst I read and whilst I wrote up posts, I decided to start blogging again...so here I am.
Last Week @ Paperback Princess
Stacking The Shelves - Commencing from this post I will link up both memes on the one post, as I figured it will prevent doing a double up. If you link up to several memes in the one post, let me know how you find it and what memes do you participate in?
Top Ten Tuesday - Topic freebie! Check out what I chose.
Book Blogger Hop - Which fictitious town would you choose to live in? My answer was quite predictable.
Review - Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
The Week Ahead
I have only just started blogging again, so below is only a guideline of what I hope would be posted up next week.
- Top Ten Tuesday
- Book Blogger Hop
- Review - Perfect by Cecelia Ahern
- Review - Passengers & Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken
- Review - As She Fades by Abbi Gline
Around the Blogosphere
Spring Clean Your Blog by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner
"5 Bookstores on my Bucket List" by Giselle @ XPresso Reads
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!
I love Keeping up with the Kardashians, it's definitely a guilty pleasure so when I came across this book, and Melissa de la Cruz commenting on the cover that it is the funniest book she'd ever read, I had to give it a try.
I actually wanted to borrow Everything, Everything but it wasn't in my local library so I grabbed this.
Soldier and Legion are Audiobooks through Audible. I have loved the Talon series thus far and eagerly anticipating the release of book #5 Inferno. Once I started the series as an audiobook, I find I must continue in this form, it just doesn't seem like the same story for me if I change format.
What are you currently listening to in Audible? Does anyone else find that when a book/series is being read well in an audiobook, you've got to continue to the end of the series in the same format?
Last but not least, I'd just like to ask...when I preview or check my blog out from my web browser the font seems really small, despite it being "Normal" in size according to Blogger, so I've now made it to "Large" but I don't know if it's showing up on your computer the same...so if you can kindly let me know which looks better?
Normal or Large
Thanks everyone! If you also participated in the above memes please send me a link on the comments below. Have a wonderful week!
Friday, 20 April 2018
Book Blogger Hop - Organising Book Review
Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy from Coffee Addicted Writer. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop's purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
This week's Question?
How do you organise your book for reviews? Does it work for you or have had to change it?
Since I have only just started blogging again the books I'm due to review are not set with a due date, so for those I don't really organise it in any way, unless it's a series, I TRY to review it one after the other if I read the books consecutively. I am so interested in everyone's answer for this in hope that I may find a better way than my current state of affairs.
However, when I participated in Blog Tours, Author Interviews and received books from Netgalley or Publishers I would use a monthly calendar where I note any commitments I may have set to ensure that I have it posted on time. I would also write down due dates for reading books by. For e.g. if my Netgalley book is due for publication on 1st of May I would endeavour to have it read by the week before so it gives me ample time to write the post, this obviously does not always happen, but again with an extra week buffer I can take my time.
However, when I participated in Blog Tours, Author Interviews and received books from Netgalley or Publishers I would use a monthly calendar where I note any commitments I may have set to ensure that I have it posted on time. I would also write down due dates for reading books by. For e.g. if my Netgalley book is due for publication on 1st of May I would endeavour to have it read by the week before so it gives me ample time to write the post, this obviously does not always happen, but again with an extra week buffer I can take my time.
Next week @ Book Blogger Hop
Have you ever thought of writing a respectful, but angry letter to an author to ask them WHY they killed off one of your favorite characters in a novel?
Thursday, 19 April 2018
Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
Flawed
by Cecelia Ahern
Website | Goodreads | TwitterSeries: Flawed #1
Released: March 24, 2016
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything.
Flawed is Cecelia Ahern's first venture into Young Adult, and being a huge fan of Ahern's, I HAD to read this and was not at all disappointed, I devoured the book, and rushed out to get Perfect (review coming soon) which is book 2 of this duo-logy.
Flawed is a dystopian novel set in the future, where the world values perfection. This world has a Government body, The Guild, that judges people for their ethical and moral conduct. The system is like a criminal justice system but this is solely for moral judgements.
When found Flawed you are an outcast from society. Firstly, there's the labelling aspect, as a Flawed you must wear a red armband with "F" on it, to let the entire world know you are Flawed, and if that's not harsh enough, you are also permanently branded with a hot stamped iron, different offences are stamped in different parts of the body e.g. if you have found to have lied you are stamped on the tongue. Once a Flawed your job prospects are slim, you must stick to a Flawed diet, curfew and only shop at the "Flawed" aisle of a supermarket, so as a Flawed you are very much segregated from the rest of the community.
When found Flawed you are an outcast from society. Firstly, there's the labelling aspect, as a Flawed you must wear a red armband with "F" on it, to let the entire world know you are Flawed, and if that's not harsh enough, you are also permanently branded with a hot stamped iron, different offences are stamped in different parts of the body e.g. if you have found to have lied you are stamped on the tongue. Once a Flawed your job prospects are slim, you must stick to a Flawed diet, curfew and only shop at the "Flawed" aisle of a supermarket, so as a Flawed you are very much segregated from the rest of the community.
Flawed is a fairly fast paced novel, and from the first chapter we are introduced to the Flawed system, and shows its readers that no one is exempt from being found Flawed, regardless of class or associations, you can potentially find yourself being labeled as a Flawed. Within the first 5 chapters we are fully immersed into the novel's plot.
Celestine North is our protagonist, and she was not a likeable character in the beginning. I believe Cecelia wrote her character to be like this firstly to cement that anyone can be found "Flawed", and secondly to show the growth of her character. By the end of the book, I not only liked her, but I found myself really rooting for her cause, she was definitely an unlikely heroine, but through the book she finds her self and where she fits in this strange world.
I also enjoyed the character growth of the secondary characters. I make a special mention of it because for me, this was the part where Cecelia Ahern's writing excelled at in this duo-logy. The changes that took place within each of her characters were amazing, and also realistic. Even the worse character, whom you think are just plain evil, all have a past and you get an insight into why their character developed as it did. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.
I also found the world extremely intriguing, although I felt that we should have received a better background story as to why the world was the way it was. We are briefly introduced to it, but to me it just did not feel justified, that a few people making mistakes in business decisions could possibly change the world to that extent. I also found it hard to accept, logically, how The Guild's punishment is in essence worse than criminal punishments. People criminally convicted go to gaol and then come out and can live amongst the community and not be "Flawed", whereas the "Flawed" are labelled for life.
However, in saying this I still thoroughly enjoyed the story, the plot, the writing and most especially the characters. This is a fast paced novel, that will have you devouring it's pages. It's plot unfolds fairly quickly, and the writing is well done, and although I wish we got more history about the world, but Cecelia writes in the way that intrigues you enough to keep its readers turning the pages. The characters and their growth is the main highlight for this novel for me.
Celestine North is our protagonist, and she was not a likeable character in the beginning. I believe Cecelia wrote her character to be like this firstly to cement that anyone can be found "Flawed", and secondly to show the growth of her character. By the end of the book, I not only liked her, but I found myself really rooting for her cause, she was definitely an unlikely heroine, but through the book she finds her self and where she fits in this strange world.
I also enjoyed the character growth of the secondary characters. I make a special mention of it because for me, this was the part where Cecelia Ahern's writing excelled at in this duo-logy. The changes that took place within each of her characters were amazing, and also realistic. Even the worse character, whom you think are just plain evil, all have a past and you get an insight into why their character developed as it did. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.
I also found the world extremely intriguing, although I felt that we should have received a better background story as to why the world was the way it was. We are briefly introduced to it, but to me it just did not feel justified, that a few people making mistakes in business decisions could possibly change the world to that extent. I also found it hard to accept, logically, how The Guild's punishment is in essence worse than criminal punishments. People criminally convicted go to gaol and then come out and can live amongst the community and not be "Flawed", whereas the "Flawed" are labelled for life.
However, in saying this I still thoroughly enjoyed the story, the plot, the writing and most especially the characters. This is a fast paced novel, that will have you devouring it's pages. It's plot unfolds fairly quickly, and the writing is well done, and although I wish we got more history about the world, but Cecelia writes in the way that intrigues you enough to keep its readers turning the pages. The characters and their growth is the main highlight for this novel for me.
Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Book Blogger Hop
Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop's purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
This week's Question?
Is there a fictitous town in a book that you would love to live in? What makes it appealing?
What's not there to like? It just looks like such a beautiful town with amazing historical architecture. The shops are amazing and oh so unique, where else can you buy a wand that CHOOSES you? Only at Ollivanders! I would love to have Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks and try out all the different flavoured beans from Honeydukes and last but not least, to just live in Flourish & Blotts.
What town did you choose for this week's Hop? Please link in the comments below so I can check out your Hop, and if you chose Hogsmeade, let me know if you have the same reasons as me!
Next week @ Book Blogger Hop
How do you organise your book for reviews? Does it work for you or have you had to change it?
Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature newly hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl. If you'd like to participate click here for future topics, and list away! If you are participating please leave a link to your post in the comments below so I can also check out your Top Ten!
Top Ten Non-Popular Authors
There are so many Authors that write brilliant books but just don't get so popular that their name becomes a household name, so I thought I'd share some amazing Authors in hope that maybe it'll shine a little bit of a spotlight on their great books. Check them out, you may find your next fave Author by just doing so.
- Kristin Bailey - I really enjoyed The Secret Order Trilogy. Here's my review of book 1; The Legacy of Clockwork Key here. Check out her other books here.
- M. Beth Bloom - I really enjoyed "Don't Ever Change" check out my review.
- Kris Dinnison - You and Me and Him was great. Here was an interview I did with the Author regarding this book.
- C.J. Duggan - She writes Contemporary YA books. My review of The Boys of Summer which is book 1 to her Summer series.
- Lindsay Emory - Sisterhood is a Deadly. Here's a link to my review and guest post.
- Jeff Gunhus - Writes Middle Grade books, but I thoroughly enjoyed his series'. Check out my blog for reviews of a few of his books.
- J.A. Huss - I enjoyed reading Manic.
- Cameron Jace - I absolutely loved "I Am Alive." He also does some retelling of fairy tales but "I Am Alive" has really stuck to me, it nearly has the vibe of Divergent.
- Stacey Kennedy - I loved The Cat's Meow and actually gave it 5 stars! Check out my review here.
- Skyla Madi - An Australian Author and most of her books on Goodreads are actually quite high rating. I read the first book in The Guardian series. Here's my review and more info on the consecutive books in the series.
Hope you enjoyed my Top Ten, I just like to showcase less known Authors, as there are some gems to be found, it's just hard to find Authors that are not household names, but some of the Indi Authors I have found have been fantastic, hope you find some of these Authors interesting enough to check out their books! Enjoy, if you have heard of some of the Authors above, let me know in the comments and let me know which of their books you enjoyed.
Next week @ Top Ten Tuesday
Frequently used words in [Insert Genre/Age Group] Titles
Saturday, 14 April 2018
Stacking the Shelves #22
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's main purpose is to showcase the books you've obtained (borrowed, won/gifted, given for review or purchased) for the week gone by. To participate, link to your own STS post here.
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Courtesy of Harper Collins Australia
This is a Kindle buy, I don't really buy many ebooks for my Kindle, but Jessica Spotswood posted on social media that this was 99c so I had to get it. It ended up costing $1.99 AUD for me but still a steal, click here if your interested in adding this to your Kindle ebook collection.
I absolutely LOVED this series, but seeing as Cecelia Ahern is one of my favourite Authors, I was beyond thrilled to find out that she has written a YA duo logy. Review coming up soon.
The above books are series' and both book 1's is a re-read, but because I spotted book 2's of both series' I decided to re-read book 1 before starting book 2....does anyone else do this?
That's the book haul for the week, what books did you get this week? Please link in the comments below.
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