30 September 2011
TGIF, Follow and Flove Friday (#3)
TGIF at GReads is a meme hosted by Ginger from Greads. The object of the meme is to every Friday answer a question she proposes and to re-cap the week’s posts.
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What do you think?
Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Every Friday a blogger is featured and a question is proposed.
This week’s featured blog is Pixie with “The Bookaholic”. Click on the image below to visit her blog and leave a comment.
The proposed question is:
Q. What book that hasn’t been turned into a movie (yet) would you most like to see make it to the big screen, and who would you like cast as your favorite character?
My favorite book to be turned into a movie at the moment is Divergent by Veronica Roth. I love dystopia and I think that a run down dystopian Chicago with a society like Divergent’s would be great on film. The book is already confirmed for a movie deal but no one has been cast yet. I don’t have a preference for a director but I do think that Saoirse Ronan would make a perfect Tris. I’ve thought of many actors as Four but right now I’m thinking Max Irons would be good in that role.
Flove Fridays is my way of showcasing my wish list. Everything that I’d Flove (love) to have will go on this list that will be showcased every Friday.
It will be released on October 4th and at this point I’m just jonesing for this book. Becca Fitzpatrick just announced yesterday that there will be a 4th book in the Hush, Hush series and that has made me even more excited about this release. Bring on more Patch!
What’s in YOUR Flove Friday list?
28 September 2011
Book Review: Tankborn by Karen Sandler
Tankborn
Karen Sandler
384 pages
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Release Date: September 15th, 2011
Source: ARC via NetGalley
Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. High-status trueborns and working-class lowborns, born naturally of a mother, are free to choose their own lives. But GENs are gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen. When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds a host of secrets and surprises-not least of which is her unexpected friendship with Zul’s great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night. With the help of an intriguing lowborn boy, Mishalla begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them.
After weeks of toiling in their Assignments, mystifying circumstances enable Kayla and Mishalla to reunite. Together they hatch a plan with their new friends to save the children who are disappearing. Yet can GENs really trust humans? Both girls must put their lives and hearts at risk to crack open a sinister conspiracy, one that may reveal secrets no one is ready to face
It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a book that is mainly science fiction and enjoyed it so much. Karen Sandler introduces us to Loka, a planet that the people of Earth colonize in the future due to Earth’s climate crumbling down, and in the process introduces us to a whole new vocabulary. Names of plants, animals, inanimate objects, all strange names for strange things. It is truly a fascinating new world. Fans of dystopia and a little known movie called “Avatar” will enjoy this.
Tankborn is told from two different points of view, Kayla and Mishalla’s. Kayla and Mishalla are childhood friends and really see each other more like sisters, nurture sisters, because they are “tankborn” or born from a tank and not a mother, or as more commonly referred to in the book, they are GENs (Genetically Engineered Non-Humans). GENs are human in every aspect of the word, except that they are not born from an actual mother, they have an extra annexed brain to which you can upload information to and download information from, and carry an elaborate tattoo on their cheek which serves as the interface with which this annexed brain can be accessed.
GENs are raised by “nurture mothers” up to age 15, at which age the GEN is assigned as a slave somewhere where they spend the rest of their short lives serving others. You see, Loka’s society is not like the one we know now on Earth. Society is divided into different social statuses, starting from the High-Status Trueborns which are the richer few and born the traditional way and all the way down to the GENs which are the lowest in the social ladder. Kayla and Mishalla are two GENs who are assigned to different assignments in two different regions of Loka. Assignments that couldn’t be any more different from each other, but that in reality are linked together in a very unique way. Before they know it, Kayla and Mishalla are thrown into a web of deceit, hatred, and racism while in the process finding out that they are not just any ordinary GENs as they have been told their whole lives that they are.
Both Kayla and Mishalla find love during this travesty, in the most unlikely of places. I did feel that the relationships in this book were a bit rushed and out of the blue and at the end of the book felt that the story needed to continue. I am sincerely hoping that Karen Sandler is planning on continuing the story. A sequel? I definitely hope so. I gave this book 4 stars for the well told and unique story. I would have given it 5 if the romance between the characters had been better developed.
25 September 2011
On My iPad…Or My Mailbox (#3)
Inspired by The Story Siren’s “In My Mailbox”. Every Sunday I will be posting all the books I’ve acquired either by purchasing at a bookstore, sent to me for review via mail, sent to me via email, etc., and will be showcasing them here.
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
Goodreads Summary
The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.
That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.
Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler. Recruit… or kill him.
Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.
Goodreads Summary
24 September 2011
Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop
Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Did you know that these amazing classics were once challenged or in danger of being banned?
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee: Challenged because it included the words "damn" and "whore lady" in its text.
- 1984, by George Orwell: Challenged because it was claimed the novel was pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien: Challenged because it was considered to be "satanic"
- And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie. Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit
- Crank, by Ellen Hopkins. Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence
- Lush, by Natasha Friend. Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
- What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones. Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
- Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich. Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint
- Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie. Reasons: homosexuality and sexually explicit
- Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence
23 September 2011
TGIF, Follow, and Flove Friday (#2)
TGIF at GReads is a meme hosted by Ginger from Greads. The object of the meme is to every Friday answer a question she proposes and to re-cap the week’s posts.
This year so far I have challenged myself to read 40 books, which I know is considered very low according to some challenges I’ve seen. From those 40 I’ve read 19 so far, so I am a bit behind (yikes!)
This week at JJ iReads:
Audi Wednesday: A Review of “If I Stay/Where She Went” by Gayle Forman on Audiobook
Book Review: “Fury” by Elizabeth Miles
Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Every Friday a blogger is featured and a question is proposed.
This week’s featured blog is “Obsession With Books”. Click on the image below to visit her blog and leave a comment.
The proposed question is:
Q. Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it?
Why yes. I have to say that my favorite series would be the Twilight Series. I know I’m probably going to get some eye rolls at my answer to this question but I’m just being honest here. My love for YA literature began with these books and I am not ashamed to admit that I am a fan of the series. Every year, when the movie is getting ready to come out, I re-read the book for that movie, so more recently I’ve re-read Breaking Dawn to be ready for the upcoming Breaking Dawn movie, and so on.
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Flove Fridays is my way of showcasing my wish list. Everything that I’d Flove (love) to have will go on this list that will be showcased every Friday.
The cover of the much anticipated sequel to Divergent was released last Friday and I am just in love with it. Look at the train and the big “Amity” symbol (the tree). I seriously can’t wait for this book.
What’s in YOUR Flove Friday list?
21 September 2011
Audi Wednesday (#2): “If I Stay/Where She Went” by Gayle Forman
Audi Wednesday is a meme started by me in which every Wednesday I showcase an Audiobook I listened to and compare that experience to reading the physical book.
Happy Audi Wednesday. This week I’ve chosen to showcase the Gayle Forman “If I Stay”/”Where She Went” series:
When “If I Stay” was first published a friend of mine called me and said “You HAVE to read this book, but have tissues handy”. She was right. I was practically bawling my eyes out the entire time I was reading this. Then someone told me “You should get the audiobook. You’ll see why”. This other friend was right as well.
While the printed version of both books is amazing as it is, the audiobook offers something extra, MUSIC. The first time I heard it I thought I thought I was imagining it, but then there it was again, Mia playing the Cello during the most emotional scenes of the book. The classical music gave it that extra emotion, the tear jerker, that will have you saying I Love You to your family over and over again, just for good measure.
The narrator, Kirsten Potter, also does an excellent job of capturing Mia’s emotions as she struggles with her current dilemma. Her voice cracks and you can hear the cries and desperation. She makes you want to stop what you are doing and just give a good cry.
I would highly recommend getting both these books in Audio book format. I’m telling you, it’s worth it!
19 September 2011
Book Review: "Fury" by Elizabeth Miles
It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But all is not as it seems…
Em is thrilled that the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend. And on the other side of town, Chase’s social life is unraveling and the stress of his home life is starting to take its toll. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel….And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. There are three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—to choose who will pay. Em and Chase have been chosen.
When I first picked up this book I thought “ooh another book about Greek mythology in modern times”. As a fan of Greek mythology, I didn’t think twice about sitting down right then and there and start reading. A quarter of the way through the book I realized I was wrong.This book is not just about Greek mythology, it is about so much more than that. It is about the basic principle of “Do unto others…” or rather, “Do not do onto others…”
The story starts out slow, losing me at parts, but when it picks up, boy does it ever pick up. You start feeling sorry for the two main characters of the book, wishing there was any way to help them out of the trouble they got themselves into. I was having a hard time accepting that people like Em and Chase could be made to pay so harshly when there are so many horrible people in the world who get away with so much more. My biggest problem was not understanding why all of this was happening to Em and Chase and not to Zach for example, another character in the book who I often felt needed to pay big time.
The Furies. Oh those crazy, maniacally-cackling, hell-bent-on-destruction, witches. From the beginning of the story, they have their sights set on Em and Chase, for something cruel Chase did and for something stupid Em hasn’t even done yet but is thinking of doing. People who are innocent get caught up in this vengeance of the Furies. An eye for an eye, but without any regard of who gets hurt in the process. I will never look at red orchids the same again after this book (the red orchid is a key element in the book).
The author does a great job of capturing the fear and the desperation of the characters as they pointlessly try to absolve themselves from their wrong doing. While reading this book I would find myself hiding under the covers and watching the windows to make sure I wasn’t being watched. I felt sympathy for the main characters, because everyone makes mistakes, but as the tag line of the book says “sometimes sorry isn’t enough”.
This was an entertaining read that will make you wonder what wrongs you’ve done in the past that needed to be made right. This book is slated for a trilogy, which by the way things ended in the first book, obviously follows some of the characters into the second book. I struggled between giving this book 3 or 4 stars. I decided on 3 because although I was entertained, I was often very frustrated by the lack of explanation of the things that were happening in Ascension. Questions like “Why Ascencion of all places?” and “Why now, all of a sudden?” kept popping into my head. While I get that these questions will most likely be answered in the subsequent books, I felt that the reader could have used a little more insight into where the story was headed. All in all, I will read the rest of the series because I felt that the story was captivating and the characters deserve to have their story read.
18 September 2011
On My iPad…or My Mailbox (#2)
Inspired by The Story Siren’s “In My Mailbox”. Every Sunday I will be posting all the books I’ve acquired either by purchasing at a bookstore, sent to me for review via mail, sent to me via email, etc., and will be showcasing them here.
Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. High-status trueborns and working-class lowborns, born naturally of a mother, are free to choose their own lives. But GENs are gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen.
When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds a host of secrets and surprises—not least of which is her unexpected friendship with Zul’s great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night. With the help of an intriguing lowborn boy, Mishalla begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them.
After weeks of toiling in their Assignments, mystifying circumstances enable Kayla and Mishalla to reunite. Together they hatch a plan with their new friends to save the children who are disappearing. Yet can GENs really trust humans? Both girls must put their lives and hearts at risk to crack open a sinister conspiracy, one that may reveal secrets no one is ready to face.
It all begins with a stupid question:
Are you a Global Vagabond?
No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.
Bria’s a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan’s a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they’ve got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.
But Bria comes to realize she can’t run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.
Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry into this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.
16 September 2011
TGIF, Follow and Flove Friday!!! (#1)
| Hosted by GReads |
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
I always say, if a book doesn’t grab me in the first couple of chapters, it’s not worth my time. I had a hard time getting into “The Luxe”. I could not relate to the characters at all. I understand a lot of people enjoyed this book, but it just wasn’t for me.
Hereafter by Tara Hudson
A love story with only one problem, the girl is a ghost. I read the entire book in this case for a review, and I enjoyed the book to a point, but I felt many time throughout the book that a lot of things didn’t make sense and the story didn’t flow as well.
Hunted (House of Night) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
*sigh* This was the book that made me give up the House of Night series. After reading all the HoN books before this one, when I finally got to this one I couldn’t continue. Something about the authors repeating themselves over and over in every book, like we needed to be reminder every chapter of what happened every chapter before that. I felt like I was was being spoon fed the story. Not for me. Good series though, just not thrilled with the way things get repeated all the time.
| My way of showcasing my wish list. Everything that I’d Flove (love) to have will go on this list that will be showcased every Friday.
My picks for this Flove Friday are: |
Follow Friday is an opportunity to discover and follow other book related blogs! Want to join? Check it out at Parajunkee.
This week’s question feature is from Librarian Mouse
Q. It’s that pesky magic book fairy again! She has another wish: What imaginary book world would you like to make a reality?
My Answer: My answer would be Alagaesia from the Eragon series by Christopher Paolini.
14 September 2011
Audi Wednesday (#1): Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
My way of showcasing Audiobooks. Every Wednesday I will be discussing an Audiobook and how I consider that particular book is better or worse as an Audiobook.
| Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion |
This book came highly recommended by my friends at Twilightish.com, namely -E- and -T-. E expressed to me how passionate she was about the book and T couldn’t stop raving about the awesomeness of the audiobook. To get the best of both worlds I purchased both the iBook and the Audiobook. I think I got about half the book read in ebook form and the other half I listened on the audiobook. Because I work full time, I tend to get through books faster by listening to the audiobook, since I can put on my headphones and listen in while I do my work…yes I’m a multitasker 🙂
I was very pleased to have experienced this book in both formats. Through the audiobook I heard the zombie language in a way that I would have not imagined just by reading the book. The narrator, Kevin Kenerly , did a fantastic job of translating that Zombie talk into something the reader (or listener) could relate to. Whenever “R”, the book’s main character, was frustrated about not being able to pronounce certain words, or about not being able to finish certain longer sentences, you felt it. You felt “R”‘s frustration with himself as well as you felt Julie’s determination and Perry’s initial anger which then turns into acceptance. All those emotions, so carefully narrated in a way that draws you into the story.
I enjoyed the book in both formats, but I will have to say that the audiobook takes it a step further in making the story even more enjoyable and more real. I highly recommend it.
12 September 2011
Book Review: “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern
Publish Date: September 13, 2011 by Random House
Received: ARC acquired via Twilightish.com via Comic-Con
The author tells us the story of Celia and Marco, two unsuspecting victims of a challenge that had been chosen for them since childhood. We watch them grow up, ruthlessly training for this competition where they will be pinned one against the other no matter the consequences. In this challenge/competition, they must outdo each other by way of showing who can do the most amazing magic. What at first seems like a competition of skill becomes a challenge of morals, values, and love. Unbeknownst to their teachers, Celia and Marco fall deeply in love with each other and must find a way to outsmart the rules, but in the meantime they find ways of writing love letters to each other in the form of new tents that magically appear throughout the circus, each with an meaningful gift for each.
Parallel to Celia and Marco’s story, we get to know Bailey, a young man who as a child was dared by his sister to break into the Night Circus. He successfully does so, but in the process he meets, Poppet, a girl who is twin to her brother Widget and who were both born on the circus’ opening night. Poppet helps him find his way out of the circus and gives him a single white glove as proof to be presented to his sister that he completed the dare. Bailey doesn’t see Poppet again until many years later when the circus comes back into town, and another love story begins. We are shown Bailey’s story as something that is happening in a different time, years later, but tied into the same story started by Celia and Marco years before and ends with Bailey becoming a pivotal part to how the story ends.
In between the stories of these characters, the author takes us inside the circus ourselves, to experience what it was like to eat the chocolate mice, drink the cocoa, watch the illusionist turn a book into a dove, watch the contortionist bend herself into unimaginable angles, and the fortune teller tell us what our future holds.
I enjoyed this book very much, so much that I will most likely read it again. Summit Entertainment has a film deal for this book and I just can’t wait to see how the imagery of this book will be translated into film. Reading this book will wake up your senses and open up your mind to a world you never thought could actually exist and make you wonder “WHAT IF?”
Twilightish Exclusive Interview with Erin Morgenstern, author of “The Night Circus”
My friend -T- from Twilightish.com had the privilege of interviewing Erin Morgenstern, author of “The Night Circus”. I will be posting my review of this book later on today and thought it would be very appropriate to repost this interview. Enjoy!
11 September 2011
On my iPad…or my mailbox (#1)
Inspired by The Story Siren’s “In My Mailbox”. Every Sunday I will be posting all the books I’ve acquired either by purchasing at a bookstore, sent to me for review via mail, sent to me via email, etc., and will be showcasing them here.
Welcome to my first “On my iPad” which is my own twist on the famous “In My Mailbox” meme. I have acquired the following books recently that I want to share with all of you:
“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
I acquired this ARC via Twilightish.com (another blog I am a part of) via Comic-Con. I am currently reading it and expect to have a review up tomorrow. So far i am loving this book. Thanks Twilightish!!
“Fury” by Elizabeth Miles
I purchased this recently released book because of all the good things I had heard about it from other YA authors I follow. This one is next on my TBR list and one I’m looking forward to it very much.
“The Mephisto Covenant” by Trinity Faegan
“Wreath” by Judy Christie
“Every Other Day” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
About the author