tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89602073644101804152024-03-14T00:06:16.429-04:00Chapters on a PageVictoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-6115518271687573462020-02-20T17:39:00.000-05:002020-02-20T17:39:46.665-05:00Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25110511-me-and-earl-and-the-dying-girl" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1429675370l/25110511.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Paperback; 336 pages</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Published by Harry N. Abrams on May 26, 2015 </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(First published March 1, 2012)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 2.5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads):</i> </b>Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of the book was really forgettable to me but some of it I did like. The writing style definitely wasn't for me and I didn't particularly enjoy the humor much either. I honestly did enjoy some of the book though but for the most part I felt like I was just reading to fill time rather than to enjoy a story. It didn't engage me the way I wanted to be. I can see how some people would really enjoy this book, and I'm glad that some people do, it just wasn't the one for me. More than once I had considered having to DNF this book but I really hate doing that and it wasn't that I disliked the story, I would just find myself bored from time to time. Overall I'm glad I finished it, but I don't think I'll make an effort to read any more of Jesse Andrews' books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★½</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-24469387707521362752020-02-19T18:21:00.001-05:002020-02-19T18:21:13.269-05:00Review: Lumiere (The Illumination Paradox #1) by Jacqueline Garlick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25450931-lumi-re" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436553088l/25450931._SY475_.jpg" width="209" /></a><span id="goog_1625411179"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1625411180"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Lumiere (<i>The Illumination Paradox #1</i>) by Jacqueline Garlick</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Paperback</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads):</i> </b>Even in a land of eternal twilight, secrets can’t stay in the dark forever.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seventeen-year-old Eyelet Elsworth has only one hope left: finding her late father’s most prized invention, the Illuminator. It’s been missing since the day of the mysterious flash—a day that saw the sun wiped out forever over England.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But living in darkness is nothing new to Eyelet. She’s hidden her secret affliction all of her life—a life that would be in danger if superstitious townspeople ever guessed the truth. And after her mother is accused and executed for a crime that she didn’t commit, the now-orphaned Eyelet has no choice but to track down the machine that was created with the sole purpose of being her cure.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alone and on the run, she finally discovers the Illuminator—only to see a young man hauling it off. Determined to follow the thief and recover the machine, she ventures into the deepest, darkest, most dangerous part of her twisted world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts: </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. This has by no means influenced the rating of my review.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wow! I found this book really interesting. More so than I thought I would before reading. Eyelet and Urlick are very interesting characters. Eyelet is feisty and pushes at any boundaries placed upon her. When Urlick tells her not to go somewhere or do something, she does it. She doesn't like secrets kept from her, and when she's on a mission, she'll do whatever it takes. Urlick on the other hand gets frustrated with her to no end, but is also fascinated with her. He's keeping secrets from her though, which is never a good thing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The illuminator, the main focus of the story, really is a mystery. No one knows exactly what it is, but as the story unfolds, you learn more about it and its capabilities. I found all the steampunk elements of this book really interesting and I loved hearing about all the inventions created.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's also plenty of action and suspense in this book! From running from people trying to catch them to facing the Turned, vapors, and criminals, the outside world away from the main city area is crazy and unpredictable. Every second out there could be the last, and danger lurks around the corner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Honestly I just really enjoyed this book. It ends on a cliffhanger and now all I want is for the next book to be in my hands!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★★</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-59870707029380242762020-02-19T18:21:00.000-05:002020-02-19T18:21:03.790-05:00Hey Guys!<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey guys! I know I've been completely absent for so long. I don't plan to be super active, but I'd like to get more of my reviews on here, so I'll be updating the ones I have published to my goodreads. I might do a few other things here off and on, but I'm not giving myself any obligations because this blog was originally made to be for fun, and I plan to keep it that way! It's only a bonus if others are able to read it from time to time and enjoy it. Anyway, thanks to those who are still sticking around, hello to anyone who is new since my last post, and hello to anyone new who stumbles upon my little blog! I hope you can find something you like here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until next time!</span>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-29405354378510759602015-08-07T01:44:00.002-04:002015-08-07T01:44:55.383-04:00Review: Awake by Natasha Preston<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22881022-awake?ac=1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22881022-awake?ac=1" border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425499436l/22881022.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Awake</i> by Natasha Preston</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ARC Paperback</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Published
August 4th 2015
by Sourcebooks Fire</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 3 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Summary (Goodreads): </span></i></b></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486">Scarlett doesn’t
remember anything before the age of five. Her parents say it’s from the
trauma of seeing her house burn down, and she accepts the life they’ve
created for her without question—until a car accident causes Scarlett to
start remembering pieces of an unfamiliar past.<br /><br />When a new guy
moves into town, Scarlett feels an instant spark. But Noah knows the
truth of Scarlett’s past, and he’s determined to shield her from
it...because Scarlett grew up in a cult called Eternal Light, controlled
by her biological parents.<br /><br />And they want her back.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><i><b><span style="color: black;">My Thoughts: </span></b></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">I received Awake through a goodreads first reads giveaway. This does not affect my rating or review, it is still an honest one.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">Scarlett is a teenage girl in high school, just like every other girl her age - except for one thing. She can't remember anything before the fire that happened when she was little. She's happy enough to forget about it after the constant headaches from trying so hard to remember when she was younger. This all changes when she and her family find themselves in a car crash, and Scarlett's dreams take her into her memories. This leads her to having more questions on her past though than answers, and unfortunately, those answers are less than ideal. Scarlett finds this out the hard way.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">Awake by Natasha Preston was definitely a unique book for me to read. I've never read a book that had a cult in it. The idea of it sparked my interest over the concept and dragged me into the story.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">Unfortunately, at the beginning of the story, I was left unimpressed. The first few lines involve the new student arriving and forming an instant bond with Scarlett, and when I say instant, I mean instant. While it made this part of the story quicker so the more important things could start happening, the insta-love was awful. I mean I understand instant attraction, but they were basically in love with one another after day one. Not to mention the way it was portrayed made the characters seem very flat. I personally didn't like any of the characters for a long time.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">Thankfully this book was to have more than just the insta-love romance. The twist is what kept me reading on. Once the memories began coming back I started to gain some interest in Scarlett's story. I was still annoyed by the romance, but while it was still a big focus, it wasn't the only focus. The mystery around her past drew me in though, and as big things began happening, I didn't mind the romance as much. By the end of the story I could even say I liked the couple together, I just didn't like a good chunk of them together in the story itself.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">I feel like the writing of this book is a little hit or miss. Though I felt like the parts drug in the beginning to plot the story points for the reader, I felt like the author didn't put much effort into it. Later on in the book I feel like her writing was much better as it was the big thing she had been building up to (that or by that time I was just used to it?). It did make it very hard in the beginning to keep reading on because the writing fell flat, just like the characters. I am glad I kept reading though as I began to enjoy the story more and actually like some of the characters. It was definitely unique for me to read about the crazy cult in the story. I liked seeing the characters' mental struggles when facing the seven rituals and how they fought to overcome what felt like the inevitable. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;">If you like reading about cults, killers, and the like - and you don't mind reading a decent amount of insta-love romance to get to the interesting parts,then I would give it a try. If you absolutely hate insta-love turn away now. You'll have trouble making it past little more than the first page.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="freeText6961381994034547486"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">★★★</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-90270376120665174692014-11-04T20:56:00.000-05:002014-11-04T20:56:25.133-05:00Review: Counteract (The Resistance Series #1) by Tracy Lawson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400959672l/22311987.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1400959672l/22311987.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Counteract (The Resistance Series #1) </i>by Tracy Lawson</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ebook</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published by Buddhapuss Ink, LLC. on August 6, 2014</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 4.5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads): </i></b>Two strangers-their destinies entwined-must work together to thwart a terrorist the country never suspected.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Office of Civilian Safety and Defense has guarded the public against the rampant threat of terrorism for the last fifteen years with the full backing of the US government. Their carefully crafted list of Civilian Restrictions means no concerts or sporting events, no travel, no social media, no cash transactions, and no driver's licenses for eighteen-year-olds Tommy and Careen. The OCSD has even outlawed grocery stores, all in the name of safety.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, there's a new threat-airborne chemical weapons that could be activated at any time. But the OCSD has an antidote: Just three drops a day is all it takes to stay safe. It's a small price to pay for safety.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or is it...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts: </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really enjoyed getting the chance to read this book. The novel is based in the United States in the not so distant future. There's a new thing in the government, the Office of Civilian Safety and Defense (OCSD), which was created to help fight against terrorists and keep the people of the US safe from them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story seems to jump right into something from the first page. There's an alert, and people find out that there are toxic poisons in the air released from terrorists and they needed to get the antidote, CSD, and take it daily or they would risk death. They talk about it being a "small price to pay for your safety." This</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is when I knew something wouldn't be right about this, and it drew me into the story even more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This novel is very intricate with a variety of characters. The perspective changes throughout the novel between several of them This gives the reader a full view of all that is going on. As a reader, I learned so much about the OCSD from both the inside and out, and I got to see the way each of the characters' thoughts changed throughout the novel which helped me understand all of their actions, regardless of my thoughts about them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The two main characters were interesting to get to learn about. I enjoyed seeing their changes throughout the novel. Careen is a feisty girl, but when she does what she is told, take her CSD, there's a complete change in who she is. It's honestly crazy that the OCSD has enough power in the novel to incorporate something like this into the daily lives of the entire population, and it's scary to think of it happening to our country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tommy on the other hand is pretty down in the beginning of the novel, having lost his parents and injuring his leg, but he seems to get a grasp on himself as the novel progresses. Seeing both Careen and him on CSD made me angry at their government, and I was ecstatic when things went awry and they couldn't take any for a few days. They were able to clear their heads, and they realized what was going on. This is when I feel the story really picked up because they sprang into action.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other perspectives I found really intriguing were Kevin and Trina. I loved getting to see the inner workings of the OCSD and the corruption throughout it. They learn about the awful things their director is planning on doing, and they begin discretely working toward eradicating this issue before it's too late. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was really interesting getting to see all the changes that Lawson made to the US throughout her novel. It takes place much sooner than most novels, only about 20 years, and because of that, all that was happening in her world resonated with me on a different level than most dystopian novels located in the US. Some things are definitely the same, kids go to college, they have cell phones to communicate, etc, but there were also drastic changes that shocked me. People stopped shopping outside of the home entirely, and air travel became restricted. It's a little difficult for me to picture this happening now, since in the novel it happens in 4 years. Then again, I can also understand it in this circumstance to a level because the nation does crazy things when threatened by terrorists. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, Lawson created a terrifying concept that shows the epitome of corruption and the thirst for absolute power over an entire population. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I honestly can't wait to get the next book in this series. I hope certain things happen in the next novel that are good for the characters, though I also know there will be plenty more things that don't go the way I want them to for Careen and Tommy. </span><br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-8141068567598495112014-05-25T22:46:00.005-04:002014-05-25T22:46:52.856-04:00Sunday Weekly Update #10<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>New Books:</i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371652590l/15839984.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371652590l/15839984.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Cruel Beauty</i> by Rosamund Hodge</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received this book FREE as an audiobook from <a href="http://www.audiobooksync.com/" target="_blank">Sync</a>. It's available till May 28!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9439989-touch-of-frost?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1301505419l/9439989.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1) </i>by Jennifer Estep</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy; a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword and Logan Quinn, the hottest Spartan guy in school, also happens to be the deadliest. But lately, things have been weird, even for Mythos. First, mean girl Jasmine Ashton was murdered in the Library of Antiquities. Then, someone stole the Bowl of Tears, a magical artifact that can be used to bring about the second Chaos War. You know, death, destruction and lots of other bad, bad things. Freaky stuff like this goes on all the time at Mythos, but I'm determined to find out who killed Jasmine and why; especially since I should have been the one who died...</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13018503-the-rules-for-disappearing?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352817095l/13018503.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Rules for Disappearing (The Rules for Disappearing #1)</i> by Ashley Elston</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> She’s been six different people in six different places: Madeline in Ohio, Isabelle in Missouri, Olivia in Kentucky . . . But now that she’s been transplanted to rural Louisiana, she has decided that this fake identity will be her last.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Witness Protection has taken nearly everything from her. But for now, they’ve given her a new name, Megan Rose Jones, and a horrible hair color. For the past eight months, Meg has begged her father to answer one question: What on earth did he do – or see – that landed them in this god-awful mess? Meg has just about had it with all the Suits’ rules — and her dad’s silence. If he won’t help, it’s time she got some answers for herself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Meg isn’t counting on Ethan Landry, an adorable Louisiana farm boy who’s too smart for his own good. He knows Meg is hiding something big. And it just might get both of them killed. As they embark on a perilous journey to free her family once and for all, Meg discovers that there’s only one rule that really matters — survival.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17368138-gilded-ashes" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7QzRp3ukQVnkrjoaR1TNl6VdyFWhvWNxzT4Amyu7TDGEJTaeRsMM_yCyVOC597fuNcmy-2v-fE2yL9gCWrnmgY4_FXGYzd0DiQrUJWVAHaPuKg7JxGmBlR_daC10ptKHUMXI6cDmwX6A/s1600/gilded+ashes.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Gilded Ashes</i> by Rosamund Hodge</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: A romantic and fantastical reimagining of the classic Cinderella tale, Gilded Ashes is a novella by Rosamund Hodge set in the same world as the author's debut novel, Cruel Beauty.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Orphan Maia doesn't see the point of love when it only brings pain: Her dying mother made a bargain with the evil, all-powerful ruler of their world that anyone who hurt her beloved daughter would be punished; her new stepmother went mad with grief when Maia's father died; and her stepsisters are desperate for their mother's approval, yet she always spurns them. And though her family has turned her into a despised servant, Maia must always pretend to be happy, or else they'll all be struck dead by the curse.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anax, heir to the Duke of Sardis, doesn't believe in love either—not since he discovered that his childhood sweetheart was only using him for his noble title. What's the point of pretending to fall in love with a girl just so she'll pretend to fall in love with him back? But when his father invites all the suitable girls in the kingdom to a masked ball, Anax must finally give in and select a wife.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As fate would have it, the preparations for the masquerade bring him Maia, who was asked by her eldest stepsister to deliver letters to Anax. Despite a prickly first encounter, he is charmed and intrigued by this mysterious girl who doesn't believe in love. Anax can't help wishing to see her again—and when he does, he can't help falling in love with her. Against her will, Maia starts to fall in love with him too. But how can she be with him when every moment his life is in danger from her mother's deadly bargain?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HarperTeen Impulse is a digital imprint focused on young adult short stories and novellas, with new releases the first Tuesday of each month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Read:</i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15839984-cruel-beauty?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371652590l/15839984.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Cruel Beauty</i> by Rosamund Hodge</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary above under new books</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Currently Reading:</i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13526144-beautiful-chaos" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388236509l/13526144.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3) </i>by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected -- and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What -- or who -- will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it's not Lena -- and the mysterious figure is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself -- forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and he's afraid to ask. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to finish this book this week, but I ended up getting really into Cruel Beauty and unintentionally took a break from this book. I'm starting up again where I left off though, and am crossing my fingers I finish this week! I have a busy two weeks ahead of me and then I hope to get to read a lot over the summer!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Most Likely to Read Next:</i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11870085-the-fault-in-our-stars?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420l/11870085.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Fault in Our Stars</i> by John Green</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though I've already read this book, it's been nearly two years, and with the movie coming out I definitely want to read it again!</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-71498892796013822022014-05-24T02:06:00.000-04:002014-05-24T02:06:45.375-04:00Review: City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6752378-city-of-fallen-angels" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369452302l/6752378.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) </i>by Cassandra Clare</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Paperback; 424 pages</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published by Margaret K. McElderry on October 2, 2012 (first published on April 5, 2011)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 3 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads): </i></b>The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But nothing comes without a price.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 New York Times bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts: </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I honestly went back and forth with this book. I both enjoyed it and didn't enjoy it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the beginning, the story started out strong and held my interest rather well. As the story progressed however, it slowly started to disappoint me. I just wasn't interested in the direction Clare wanted to bring this story. I believe the decline really started to show around the halfway point of the book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the different perspectives of each of the characters, there was able to be several different stories that were all connected but also separate. I enjoyed this, because when I wasn't enjoying a perspective of one of the characters, I knew that soon enough I would be back with another.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the book starts out, I enjoyed everyone's perspective. I didn't care much for one thing Simon was doing that Clary knew about, but that's not something that would make me dislike the story or anything at all. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading about Simon and his life now as a vampire, even though he was trying to be as normal as possible. I also really enjoyed reading from Clary's perspective and seeing her training, as she is now going to be a shadowhunter. Jace's perspective was interesting as well, as he has issues he is personally dealing with that revolve around his family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then comes his dreams.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't like this part of the book at all. It made me kind of sad, because I really like reading about Clary and Jace, but in this book I found myself dreading their sections in the book. I just didn't like the plot that Clare was making between them, and I didn't like how Jace didn't want to tell Clary what was wrong. That's literally the worst thing you can do, not tell someone what is wrong when there is something going on, and then start to completely ignore and avoid them. It just really annoyed me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will say this though, while it did annoy me when it came to Jace's actions, I did enjoy having him around when I was reading about Simon. When the story wasn't filled with Jace's angsty problems, I found myself liking what I was reading. Even when things like Jace's appearance were brought into play and the issues that came from that, when it wasn't from his perspective I didn't mind it much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon really was the only person that kept me happy with this novel. His storyline was more captivating to me since he was learning more about the consequences of being a vampire, and he also was learning the consequences about the mark of Cain that Clary placed on him. The mark was really interesting to me, and while it was awful how it worked, I also found myself fascinated with it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Really I don't know what direction I should take this review in. By the end of the book, I felt like I was going to be happy with the turn of events, as it began to go in a direction I liked, but then, in the final pages, that was squashed. I don't like the way the series seems to be going, but we'll have to see. My close friend told me she loved the fifth book, so I'm hoping I do as well. I also don't want people to think I disliked this book, I did enjoy the read at some points, but I didn't like not being happy with the turn of events the way I was. Either way, Simon was the saving grace of this novel and I hope to see more of him in the next book!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★★</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-4057173898055024002014-05-21T19:30:00.002-04:002014-05-21T19:31:44.247-04:00Waiting on Wednesday #7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8755785-city-of-heavenly-fire?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389748702l/8755785.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6)</i> by Cassandra Clare</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Release Date: <span style="color: red;">May 27, 2014</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am coming.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-36624701667669192122014-05-20T14:09:00.000-04:002014-05-20T14:09:05.449-04:00Top Ten Tuesday #7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15r-q1XeZQuDkTu_QkXOsL5Y6Xozgv8o8BYPcu3lFjPafUiiYslo4NuBvws6pqsj6xrmosdGh4lAY_42ZaCuakbk1mgduICo5TfrNIzOg10ysL2NaMebLjd1nofV_TnJI4PkW3eGDcr6/s320/toptentuesday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15r-q1XeZQuDkTu_QkXOsL5Y6Xozgv8o8BYPcu3lFjPafUiiYslo4NuBvws6pqsj6xrmosdGh4lAY_42ZaCuakbk1mgduICo5TfrNIzOg10ysL2NaMebLjd1nofV_TnJI4PkW3eGDcr6/s320/toptentuesday.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May 20: Ten Books About Friendship</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Vampire Academy</i> by Richelle Mead</b> - I love the friendship between Lissa and Rose! It was nice that it was a large focus in the series</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Daughter of Smoke and Bone</i> by Laini Taylor</b> - Zuzana is definitely one of my favorite characters, and I love how she balances Karou. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Harry Potter </i>by J K Rowling</b> - Do I really need to say it? Harry, Ron and Hermione have such a lovely friendship, and while they have bumps and rough patches, they are always there to help one another out in the long run</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Book Thief </i>by Markus Zuzak</b>- Rudy and Max. I love their friendships with Liesel!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Raven Boys</i> by Maggie Stiefvater</b> - I love Blue and the Raven Boys! Their friendship is amazing and so well written</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Beautiful Creatures</i> by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</b> - From what I've read so far in the series, I love the friendship between Ethan and Link! It's nice to see things from the guys perspective in these books</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Perks of Being a Wallflower</i> by Stephen Chbosky</b> - I love how the friendships between Charlie and Patrick and Sam go!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Mortal Instruments</i> by Cassandra Clare</b> - I loved the relationship between Clary and Simon!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Obsidian</i> by Jennifer L Armentrout</b> - Dee and Katy are so cute together. I loved how happy Dee was to be friends with Katy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Infernal Devices</i> by Cassandra Clare</b> - I've only read the first book, but I love the friendship between Will and Jem!</span></li>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-54433210020803072702014-05-18T23:11:00.007-04:002014-05-18T23:11:47.295-04:00Sunday Weekly Update #9<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>New Books: </i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18243700-the-assassin-s-blade?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1384362444l/18243700.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5)</i> by Sarah J. Maas</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Contains all five novellas.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out</span></div>
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<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392295190l/18505845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392295190l/18505845.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>All Lined Up (Rusk University #1)</i> by Cora Carmack</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack follows up her trio of hits—Losing It, Faking It, and Finding It—with this thrilling first novel in an explosive series bursting with the Texas flavor, edge, and steamy romance of Friday Night Lights.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Texas, two things are cherished above all else—football and gossip. My life has always been ruled by both.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15839976-red-rising?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369153188l/15839976.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1)</i> by Pierce Brown</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The war begins...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars. Generations of Helldivers have spent their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that one day people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. Mars is habitable - and indeed has been inhabited for generations by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. The Golds regard Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the help of a mysterious group of rebels, Darrow disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the command school is a battlefield. And Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda...</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18333827-stir-me-up?from_search=true" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1376585535l/18333827.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Stir Me Up</i> by Sabrina Elkins</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Cami Broussard has her future all figured out. She'll finish her senior year of high school, then go to work full-time as an apprentice chef in her father's French restaurant, alongside her boyfriend, Luke. But then twenty-year-old ex-Marine Julian Wyatt comes to live with Cami's family while recovering from serious injuries. And suddenly Cami finds herself questioning everything she thought she wanted.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julian's all attitude, challenges and intense green-brown eyes. But beneath that abrasive exterior is a man who just might be as lost as Cami's starting to feel. And Cami can't stop thinking about him. Talking to him. Wanting to kiss him. He's got her seriously stirred up. Her senior year has just gotten a lot more complicated….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week was so busy for me, so I haven't even had a chance to finish Beautiful Chaos yet! Hopefully I'll be able to finish it this week, but who knows, the next few weeks will be packed with schoolwork for me since it's the end of the year and I'm graduating (and I have two less weeks than expected to get everything done and turned in, so I have a lot more to do in a shorter amount of time). I can't wait for June 5 to finally be here and for my summer to start!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Currently Reading: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388236509l/13526144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388236509l/13526144.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3)</i> by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected -- and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What -- or who -- will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it's not Lena -- and the mysterious figure is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself -- forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and he's afraid to ask. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SPECIAL BONUS: Includes "Dream Dark," a thrilling short story set before Beautiful Chaos. When Link joined his best friend, Ethan Wate, on a quest through a mysterious network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, he knew the journey would be dangerous. But he had no idea it would change his life forever.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18505845-all-lined-up?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392295190l/18505845.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>All Lined Up (Rusk University #1)</i> by Cora Carmack</b></span></div>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-19883858250320231692014-05-16T15:32:00.000-04:002014-05-16T15:32:57.046-04:00Review: Night of Cake and Puppets (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2.5) by Laini Taylor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18360128-night-of-cake-puppets" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380644215l/18360128.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Night of Cake and Puppets (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2.5) </i>by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ebook; 89 pages</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published by Little, Brown Books on November 26, 2013</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads): </i></b>In Night of Cake & Puppets, Taylor brings to life a night only hinted at in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy—the magical first date of fan-favorites Zuzana and Mik. Told in alternating perspectives, it’s the perfect love story for fans of the series and new readers alike. Petite though she may be, Zuzana is not known for timidity. Her best friend, Karou, calls her “rabid fairy,” her “voodoo eyes” are said to freeze blood, and even her older brother fears her wrath. But when it comes to the simple matter of talking to Mik, or “Violin Boy,” her courage deserts her. Now, enough is enough. Zuzana is determined to meet him, and she has a fistful of magic and a plan. It’s a wonderfully elaborate treasure hunt of a plan that will take Mik all over Prague on a cold winter’s night before finally leading him to the treasure: herself! Violin Boy’s not going to know what hit him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts: </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh my God I loved this ebook to pieces! It honestly is so cute and amazing. I would love for a first date to be like this (no matter how unrealistic its possibility really is!). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the alternating point of views and the uncertainty each one of them feels even though they both clearly like one another. Zuzana is the same spit-fire girl she always is, but she is still so sweet as well and I honestly love her idea of making a treasure map to herself. It was so clever!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mik is also interesting to read about, and it's cool to see the way he reacts to all of the things Zuzana does for him, especially since she has some magic to use. I love how, even though the night was supposed to be a bunch of surprises for him from Zuzana, he jumps at the chance to make a surprise of his own, even if it's last minute and he has to think on his toes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's honestly not much to say about this because it's just a short little story, but it was so magical! Even the parts without the magic. I was so curious to see each new event unfold, as Zuze and Mik both were as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also really love the way that Zuzana relies on texting Karou and seeing their interactions because it's so normal, even though Karou is supposedly in South Africa looking for wishes. They just show such an amazing friendship, and you can really see how they help one another out no matter what it's about. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, this is not a necessary story to read in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, but it is definitely a memorable one that I'll no doubt be rereading in the future! It adds a new perspective to Zuzana and Mik and makes my love for their characters so much more than it was before, even though I didn't think it possible!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★★★★</span></div>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-25799924275020687782014-05-14T09:00:00.000-04:002014-05-14T09:00:06.639-04:00Waiting on Wednesday #6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18513554-dangerous-creatures" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387462327l/18513554.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Dangerous Creatures (Dangerous Creatures #1)</i> by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Release Date: <span style="color: red;">May 20, 2014</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> From the world of Beautiful Creatures-a dangerous new tale of love and magic.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ridley Duchannes is nobody's heroine. She's a Dark Caster, a Siren. She can make you do things. Anything. You can't trust her, or yourself when she's around. And she'll be the first to tell you to stay away-especially if you're going to do something as stupid as fall in love with her. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lucky for Ridley, her wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley "Link" Lincoln, never listens to anyone. Link doesn't care if Rid's no good for him, and he takes her along when he leaves small-town Gatlin to follow his rock-star dream. He teams up with a ragtag group of Dark Casters, and when the band scores a gig at a hot Underground club, it looks like all of Link's dreams are about to come true. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But New York City is a dangerous place for both Casters and Mortals, and soon Ridley realizes that Link's bandmates are keeping secrets. With bad-boy club owner Lennox Gates on her heels, Rid is determined to find out the truth. What she discovers is worse than she could have imagined: Link has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay. With their lives on the line, what's a Siren to do? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthors of the Beautiful Creatures novels, are back to cast another magical spell. Their signature blend of mystery, suspense, and romance, with a healthy dose of wit and danger, will pull fans in and leave them begging for more.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't finished reading the Caster Chronicles, but since this is a part of that world, I know that I'll want to read it! I also have been given a preordered signed copy as a gift, which is exciting! </span></div>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-55404919629426682972014-05-13T09:00:00.000-04:002014-05-13T09:27:34.506-04:00Top Ten Tuesday #6<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15r-q1XeZQuDkTu_QkXOsL5Y6Xozgv8o8BYPcu3lFjPafUiiYslo4NuBvws6pqsj6xrmosdGh4lAY_42ZaCuakbk1mgduICo5TfrNIzOg10ysL2NaMebLjd1nofV_TnJI4PkW3eGDcr6/s320/toptentuesday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15r-q1XeZQuDkTu_QkXOsL5Y6Xozgv8o8BYPcu3lFjPafUiiYslo4NuBvws6pqsj6xrmosdGh4lAY_42ZaCuakbk1mgduICo5TfrNIzOg10ysL2NaMebLjd1nofV_TnJI4PkW3eGDcr6/s320/toptentuesday.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May 13: Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Obsession</i> by Jennifer L. Armentrout</b> - I honestly just didn't like this book much. The beginning was good, but the rest wasn't. I mostly pushed through to get the insight into another side of the Lux Series, but overall I didn't enjoy the read as much as I hoped and will not be reading this again. I'm not disappointed I read it though, I just didn't care for the story.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Rapture</i> by Lauren Kate</b> - Technically I did put this book down. I put it down for over a year. I didn't completely turn away though, as I eventually finished the book and actually did enjoy some parts of it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Flowers in the Attic</i> by V. C. Andrews</b> - I also technically put this book down too. I attempted to read it years ago because my mom loved it as a teen but I wasn't into it. Years later, my mom wanted to watch the new movie of it with me, and we watched it, and I figured I would give the book another go. I enjoyed it enough, though I doubt I'll ever reread it. I think mostly it's just slow in my opinion, and back when I first tried reading it I wasn't into reading like I am now, so it couldn't hold my attention long enough.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Spectacular Now</i> by Tim Tharp</b> - This book was okay, but I just felt that the characters lacked the growth that should have been there. I did read to the end, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending at all.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Fallen in Love</i> by Lauren Kate</b> - This book just didn't hold my interest well. I read it, and overall I'm glad I did, but I can't tell you I remember much of it. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Go Ask Alice</i> by Anonymous</b> - I actually almost DNF this book the <i>second</i> time I read it, because the first time I was rather young and impressionable, and the second I was much older and wiser. The truth of the matter is - this book is so unrealistically overdone that it was painful to read.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Halo</i> by Alexandra Adornetto</b> - This book just didn't seem to pull me in. I felt very disconnected from the characters and lacked the caring attitude I wanted to feel towards them. I'm glad I finished the book, but the writing style was just not for me.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Hunger Games</i> by Suzanne Collins</b> - I know, a surprise, right? It wasn't that I didn't enjoy this book it was just that I wasn't really that into reading at the time I was reading it. It honestly took me forever to read this book and there were several times I thought I might just stop reading it, but I successfully finished it the day I was going to see the movie, and I'm really thankful that I did. Since then, I've reread this book, and I really do enjoy the story.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i> by Harper Lee </b>- Nowadays, it's almost easier to look up books on sparknotes for school rather than read the actual book, and this is something I almost did. I wasn't into this story much at the beginning, and I always hate being forced to read books over the summer for school, but I ended up binge reading this book in a day two days before I had a test on it. I actually really enjoyed the book for one I had to read for school, and I'm proud to own a copy of it. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>F</b></i><b><i>ever 1793</i> by Laurie Halse Anderson</b> - I didn't like this book at all. I had to read it for school, and that's literally the only reason I read it. I don't regret reading it necessarily, though if I knew that my teacher was giving everyone a hundred on our project on it because he didn't care for summer work, I would have skimmed it more so than actually read the book.</span></li>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-88017091590765569932014-05-11T14:04:00.003-04:002014-05-11T14:16:53.301-04:00Sunday Weekly Update #8<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>New Books:</i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18360128-night-of-cake-puppets" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380644215l/18360128.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Night of Cake and Puppets (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2.5)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> In Night of Cake & Puppets, Taylor brings to life a night only hinted at in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy—the magical first date of fan-favorites Zuzana and Mik. Told in alternating perspectives, it’s the perfect love story for fans of the series and new readers alike. Petite though she may be, Zuzana is not known for timidity. Her best friend, Karou, calls her “rabid fairy,” her “voodoo eyes” are said to freeze blood, and even her older brother fears her wrath. But when it comes to the simple matter of talking to Mik, or “Violin Boy,” her courage deserts her. Now, enough is enough. Zuzana is determined to meet him, and she has a fistful of magic and a plan. It’s a wonderfully elaborate treasure hunt of a plan that will take Mik all over Prague on a cold winter’s night before finally leading him to the treasure: herself! Violin Boy’s not going to know what hit him.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13131822-zoe-letting-go" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341325155l/13131822.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Zoe Letting Go</i> by Nora Price</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Zoe knows she doesn’t belong in a hospital—so why is she in one?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twin Birch isn’t just any hospital. It’s a strange mansion populated by unnerving staff and glassy-eyed patients. It’s a place for girls with serious problems; skinny, spindly girls with eating disorders who have a penchant for harming themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zoe isn’t like them. And she can’t figure out why she was sent here. Writing letters to her best friend Elise keep her sane, grounded in the memories of her past—but mired in them, too. Elise never writes back.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zoe is lost without her, unsure of how to navigate tenuous new friendships and bizarre rules without Elise by her side. But as her letters intertwine with journal entries chronicling her mysterious life at Twin Birch, another narrative unfolds. The hidden story of a complicated friendship; of the choices we make, the truths we tell others, and the lies we tell ourselves. The story of a friendship that has the potential to both save—and damage beyond repair. And Zoe finds she must confront the truth about her past once and for all, before she can finally let go.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nora Price’s debut young adult book is a heart-wrenching meditation on the bonds of friendship with a gripping psychological twist.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13517455-reboot" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350931774l/13517455.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Reboot (Reboot #1)</i> by Amy Tintera</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The perfect soldier is done taking orders</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13568619-the-shadowhunter-s-codex" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360181579l/17334481.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Shadowhunter's Codex</i> by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary: </i>The Clave is pleased to announce the newest edition of the Nephilim’s oldest and most famous training manual: the Shadowhunter’s Codex. Since the thirteenth century, the Codex has been the young Shadowhunter’s best friend. When you’re being swarmed by demons it can be easy to forget the finer points of obscure demon languages or the fastest way to stop an attack of Raum demons. With the Codex by your side, you never have to worry. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now in its twenty-seventh edition, the Codex covers it all: the history and the laws of our world; how to identify, interact with, and if necessary, kill that world’s many colorful denizens; which end of the stele is the end you write with. No more will your attempt to fight off rogue vampires and warlocks be slowed by the need to answer endless questions from your new recruits: What is a Pyxis? Why don’t we use guns? If I can’t see a warlock’s mark, is there a polite way to ask him where it is? Where do we get all our holy water? Geography, History, Magic, and Zoology textbook all rolled into one, the Codex is here to help new Shadowhunters navigate the beautiful, often brutal world that we inhabit. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do not let it be said that the Clave is outdated or, as the younger Shadowhunters say, “uncool”: this new edition of the Codex will be available not only in the usual magically-sealed demonskin binding, but also in a smart, modern edition using all of today’s most exciting printing techniques, including such new features as a sturdy clothbound cover, a protective dust jacket, and information about title, author, publisher, and so on conveniently available right on the cover. You’ll be pleased to know that it fits neatly into most satchels, and unlike previous editions, it rarely sets off alarm wards. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The old woodcuts and engravings have been replaced as well: instead, you’ll find lavish modern illustrations by some of the brightest luminaries of the fantastic. Creatures, weapons, people, and places have been carefully and accurately rendered by the likes of Rebecca Guay, Charles Vess, Jim Nelson, Theo Black, Elisabeth Alba, and Cassandra Jean. Chapters are beautifully introduced by the drawings of Michael Kaluta, and along with our condensation of the classic 2,450-page tome, A History of the Nephilim, you will find a selection of the best of the lovely illustrations of that volume by John Dollar. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This edition of the Codex will be available in Institute libraries and what mundanes sometimes call “book stores” in October 2013</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13257637-the-sweetest-dark" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335980437l/13257637.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Sweetest Dark (The Sweetest Dark #1) </i>by Shana Abé</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The Sweetest Dark is filled with thrilling romance, exciting adventure, and ancient magic. Shana Abé brilliantly captures the drama of post-Victorian England, while unfolding a passionate love story that defies time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“With every fiber of my being, I yearned to be normal. To glide through my days at Iverson without incident. But I’d have to face the fact that my life was about to unfold in a very, very different way than I’d ever envisioned. Normal would become forever out of reach.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Filled with lush atmosphere, thrilling romance, and ancient magic, The Sweetest Dark brilliantly captures a rich historical era while unfolding an enchanting love story that defies time.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13449677-the-collector" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363269053l/13449677.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Collector (Dante Walker #1)</i> by Victoria Scott</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary: </i>He makes good girls...bad. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/556452.Dream_Factory" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1175781560l/556452.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Dream Factory</i> by Brad Barkley and Heather Helper</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> When the character actors at Disney World go on strike, the teens hired as replacements learn that it isn't exactly the Happiest Place on Earth. Ella gets to be Cinderella, simply because the shoe fits. It should be a dream come true, but Ella no longer believes in dreams. Luke is a fur character, Dale the chipmunk. Chip is played by his girlfriend, Cassie, who is perfect in every way. Why, then, does Luke find himself more drawn to imperfect things like the theme park's Phantom? A team-building scavenger hunt brings Luke and Ella together. As they uncover the Magic Kingdom's treasures, they discover an undeniable magic between them.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12812550-days-of-blood-starlight" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337964452l/12812550.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not that world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b><a href="http://chaptersonapage.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-days-of-blood-and-starlight.html" target="_blank">Click here to read the review!!</a></b></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18360128-night-of-cake-puppets" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1380644215l/18360128.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Night of Cake and Puppets (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2.5)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary above under New Books</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Review to come!!</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6752378-city-of-fallen-angels" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369452302l/6752378.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4)</i> by Cassandra Clare</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><i>Summary:</i> </span></span><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But nothing comes without a price.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 New York Times bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Review to come!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Currently Reading: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13526144-beautiful-chaos" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388236509l/13526144.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Beautiful Chaos (Caster Chronicles #3) </i>by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected -- and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What -- or who -- will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it's not Lena -- and the mysterious figure is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself -- forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and he's afraid to ask. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Most Likely to Read Next: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17623991-reached" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1374335743l/17623991.jpg" width="203" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Reached (Matched #3)</i> by Ally Condie</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Conclusion to the New York Times Bestselling Matched Trilogy!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cassia’s journey began with an error, a momentary glitch in the otherwise perfect façade of the Society. After crossing canyons to break free, she waits, silk and paper smuggled against her skin, ready for the final chapter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wait is over.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One young woman has raged against those who threaten to keep away what matters most—family, love, choice. Her quiet revolution is about to explode into full-scale rebellion. With exquisite prose, the emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-46654349981240829742014-05-10T15:39:00.000-04:002014-05-10T15:39:12.300-04:00Review: Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12812550-days-of-blood-starlight?ac=1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337964452l/12812550.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) </i>by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hardcover; 517 pages</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published by Little Brown Books on November 6, 2012</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads): </i></b>Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not that world.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts: </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow! What an amazing book. I will admit that I wasn't as refreshed with the world as I would have liked to be, as it has been two years since I read the first book, but I was able to remember a decent amount of information and a lot of things were refreshed in my memory while I read the novel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved the different perspectives we got to see throughout the whole novel. It was interesting getting to look at the way everyone read different situations and how they were doing when they weren't in the same area as another character happened to be. I really felt connected to each and every character, and as new ones were introduced, I felt for them just as much as I felt for those who had been there from the start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karou is honestly such a strong and amazing character. My favorite parts of the book were when they were from her perspective. She was faced with a horrible tragedy, and yet she was pushing on and works through hardships no one should have to face, all while knowing she was not safe. She was really aptly named though, as she became the hope for the chimaera, even if they didn't believe in her or particularly like her. Without her though, where would they be? She became their resurrectionist, and without her, they would be gone. She did everything for her people even though they didn't care or respect her in return. I felt like I saw a lot of growth in her character and she was rather cunning when she needed to be. She learned more of the situation she was facing and did what was in her power to change it for the better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Akiva also was a main character throughout this novel. He's devastated, thinking Karou is dead, and it doesn't help the matter when he finds a thurible with her name on it. I was honestly not as interested in his part of the story line for a while, but as the book went on, I began to have an increased interest in what happened to him. I liked the way that he changed and showed mercy to the chimaera, and I loved seeing interactions with him and Liraz and Hazael. Though this ultimately led me to be more sad in the end, it was nice to see their relationship as his brother and sister. They really rely on and care deeply for one another, and they truly make a family. Things with his story, in my opinion, really pick up as the story goes on, and while I don't want to mention things to spoil it, I began to look forward to his sections of the story more and more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zuzana and Mik were amazing to read about. I love the first chapter that starts with them, it brought a grin to my face. Zuze is so spunky and her personality is the best. She's an amazing friend to Karou and does whatever she can to talk to and find her to help her out however is necessary, even if the work is way out of her league. Mik is pretty much the same way. He has come to care for Karou as well, since she is such a big part of Zuze's life. They are honestly so cute together and I love the way they interact with one another. Their point of view always made me happy and they're definitely the icing on the cake of this novel. The story is there without them, like cake is without icing, but they make it so much better than it is on its own!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are other characters' perspectives we see things through, and I loved each and every one of them. They showed the war and the things going on through new eyes, and it really gave the reader a view of the world as a whole, rather than just through the original main characters' eyes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's honestly so much I can say about this novel, as it's jam-packed with information. It took me a while to read it, but I'm actually glad it did because I was able to soak it all in and really get a good idea of the story. I would fall asleep at night thinking of the world Laini Taylor created and going over the new things I had read in the past day, reliving the moments through the images created from her writing in my head. This series really is amazing, and I'm so glad that I went out to get the last book to read soon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★★★★</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-8415889193322541232014-05-04T19:35:00.002-04:002014-05-04T19:35:11.660-04:00Sunday Weekly Update #7<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>New Books: </i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/307791.The_City_of_Ember" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397931596l/307791.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The City of Ember (Book of Ember #1)</i> by Jeanne DuPrau</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Many hundreds of years ago, the city of Ember was created by the Builders to contain everything needed for human survival. It worked…but now the storerooms are almost out of food, crops are blighted, corruption is spreading through the city and worst of all—the lights are failing. Soon Ember could be engulfed by darkness….</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But when two children, Lina and Doon, discover fragments of an ancient parchment, they begin to wonder if there could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher the words from long ago and find a new future for everyone? Will the people of Ember listen to them?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The next three books I don't have the others in the series but they were 50 cents or something like that and my dad bought them for me.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/283494.Ironside" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354844906l/283494.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Ironside (Modern Faerie Tales #3)</i> by Holly Black</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> In the realm of Faerie, the time has come for Roiben's coronation. Uneasy in the midst of the malevolent Unseelie Court, pixie Kaye is sure of only one thing -- her love for Roiben. But when Kaye, drunk on faerie wine, declares herself to Roiben, he sends her on a seemingly impossible quest. Now Kaye can't see or speak to Roiben unless she can find the one thing she knows doesn't exist: a faerie who can tell a lie.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miserable and convinced she belongs nowhere, Kaye decides to tell her mother the truth -- that she is a changeling left in place of the human daughter stolen long ago. Her mother's shock and horror sends Kaye back to the world of Faerie to find her human counterpart and return her to Ironside. But once back in the faerie courts, Kaye finds herself a pawn in the games of Silarial, queen of the Seelie Court. Silarial wants Roiben's throne, and she will use Kaye, and any means necessary, to get it. In this game of wits and weapons, can a pixie outplay a queen?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Holly Black spins a seductive tale at once achingly real and chillingly enchanted, set in a dangerous world where pleasure mingles with pain and nothing is exactly as it appears.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9369687-trial-by-fire" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388865932l/9369687.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Trial by Fire (Raised by Wolves #2)</i> by Jennifer Lynn Barnes</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary: </i>There can only be one alpha. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bryn is finally settling into her position as alpha of the Cedar Ridge Pack—or at least, her own version of what it means to be alpha when you’re a human leading a band of werewolves. Then she finds a teenage boy bleeding on her front porch. Before collapsing, he tells her his name is Lucas, he’s a Were, and Bryn’s protection is his only hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Lucas isn’t part of Bryn’s pack, and she has no right to claim another alpha’s Were. With threats—old and new—looming, and danger closing in from all sides, Bryn will have to accept what her guardian Callum knew all along. To be alpha, she will have to give in to her own animal instincts and become less human. And, she’s going to have to do it alone.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bryn faces both the costs, and the rewards, of love and loyalty, in this thrilling sequel to Raised by Wolves.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8601666-blessed" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393383578l/8601666.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Blessed (Tantalize #3) </i>by Cynthia Leitich Smith</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Third book in the Tantalize series. Smith unites the casts of Tantalize and Eternal in a delicious dark fantasy her fans will devour. Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateuse and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life -- or undeath. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love, the hybrid werewolf Kieren, of murder charges; thwart the apocalyptic ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the seductive vampire-chef who "blessed" her; and keep her dead parents' restaurant up and running. She hires a more homespun chef and adds the preternaturally beautiful Zachary to her wait staff. But with hundreds of new vampires on the rise and Bradley off assuming the powers of Dracula Prime, Zachary soon reveals his true nature -- and a flaming sword -- and they hit the road to staunch the bloodshed before it's too late. Even if they save the world, will there be time left to salvage Quincie's soul?</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16056408-easy" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349370267l/16056408.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Easy (Contours of the Heart #1) </i>by Tammara Webber</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Rescued by a stranger.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Haunted by a secret</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, love isn’t easy…</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl's struggle to regain the trust she's lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13618440-dreams-of-gods-monsters?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1378892134l/13618440.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary: </i>By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Common enemy, common cause.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What power can bruise the sky?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Read: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328559506l/13335037.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Divergent (Divergent #1)</i> by Veronica Roth</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://chaptersonapage.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-divergent-divergent-1-by.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Click here to read the review!!</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Currently Reading: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12812550-days-of-blood-starlight" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337964452l/12812550.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) </i>by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not that world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Most Likely to Read Next: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8715343-city-of-fallen-angels" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1292355339l/8715343.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments #4) </i>by Cassandra Clare</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary: </i>The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But nothing comes without a price.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 New York Times bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series.</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-59240791652344731162014-04-30T22:00:00.000-04:002014-04-30T22:25:14.586-04:00Waiting on Wednesday #5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1377702326l/18189606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1377702326l/18189606.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Since You've Been Gone</i> by Morgan Matson</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Release Date: <span style="color: red;">May 6, 2014</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try... unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait... what?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Go Skinny Dipping? Um...</span></div>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-41759855291810322022014-04-29T11:30:00.000-04:002014-05-05T13:14:20.174-04:00Review: Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?ac=1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328559506l/13335037.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Divergent (Divergent #1) </i>by Veronica Roth</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Paperback; 487 pages</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published by Katherine Tegan Books on February 28, 2012</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://chaptersonapage.blogspot.com/2014/03/divergent-movie.html" target="_blank">Click here to read my review of the movie</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads): </i></b>In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first time I read this book was nearly a year and a half ago, and at the time, I read the book within a day or two. This time around, it took me much longer, but I loved and appreciated the story just the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the way the story is pieced together. The world is interesting, and while it's obviously corrupt by this time, I think it would be neat to see the way everything ran before all of the corruption. Regardless of that, the world itself drew me in, especially the way things went in Dauntless. I personally would never make it in Dauntless, but I loved seeing Tris there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tris went through such a transformation throughout this novel. Sure, she starts out brave, and the things she does at the beginning of the book to show this bravery is outstanding, but as the story progresses, she becomes a much stronger person in both mind and body. This only serves to make her braver than ever, and she is able to do things that she would never have imagined in her wildest dreams with no thought to it anymore. The transformation in both her character and in her physical aspects is really impressive, and I feel like she was able to discover herself more as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeing Four in this novel is amazing as well. I love his standoffish behavior and the way he responds to the initiates. Even more than that, I love the way that he interacts with Tris and the little hints at his attraction to her are thrown in here and there for both Tris and the readers to swoon over. I love seeing the layers of the walls he built around himself peel away as Tris gets closer and closer to him and we get to see him in a new light. He's still that guy he was in the beginning, but he has so much more to him when he is unguarded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I honestly love reading about initiation in Dauntless and the way that it all is put together. It's brutal and harsh, but it really helps build up the strength in every single one of the initiates, even if there are some that shouldn't be trained that way. Those who read the book should know exactly who shouldn't be trained to use knives and fight. It's terrifying how they have to face their fears day in and day out, and I'm sure it's even worse when they aren't Divergent like Tris is. I personally thought it was bad enough when she was in the simulations, so I can't even imagine how it would be in the mind of someone who isn't Divergent. I wish we were able to get more of a peek at all the other factions' initiations, I think it would be really interesting to really know how it went. I'm glad we got a little information on this through Tris and Christina.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The romance between Four and Tris had me at the edge of my seat, even the second time around. I could feel their attraction oozing out of the pages and was anxiously awaiting their first kiss. I love the way they both are able to work together and bring out whatever is needed for the other to either be their best or get through something difficult that required a little extra strength and push. I don't think Four sees her as a little girl or anything like that, I think he sees her as an equal, even though he is her instructor. I like this, because while he is her instructor, he really is only two years older than her. Sure, this gives him a higher position of power and a little bit more maturity, but not enough for him to act too superior over her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ending of this book is both intense and heartbreaking, and I couldn't turn the page fast enough to get to the next page. There's barely a chance to catch a breather or take too much time to process one horrific event, because a second later something new and just as awful is happening. The way Tris handles everything is spot on, and while it's agonizing that she has to go through what she does, she stays true to herself and the people she loves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★★★★</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-42630208216874081032014-04-27T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-27T12:06:18.245-04:00Sunday Weekly Update #6<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>New Books: </i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3099787-night-world-no-1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1393773585l/3099787.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Night World #1 (Night World #1-3)</i> by L. J. Smith</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Includes:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 1 - Secret Vampire</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 2 - Daughters of Darkness </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 3 - Spellbinder </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters -- they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Secret Vampire, Poppy thought the summer would last forever. Then she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now Poppy's only hope for survival is James, her friend and secret love. A vampire in the Night World, James can make Poppy immortal. But first they both must risk everything to go against the laws of Night World.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fugitives from Night World, three vampire sisters leave their isolated home to live among humans in Daughters of Darkness. Their brother, Ash, is sent to bring the girls back, but he falls in love with their beautiful friend.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two witch cousins fight over their high school crush. It's a battle between black magic and white magic in Spellbinder.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5941233-thirst-no-1?from_search=true" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327887604l/5941233.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Thirst #1: The Last Vampire,Black Blood, and Red Dice (Thirst #1)</i> by Christopher Pike</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Includes: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Last Vampire</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Black Blood</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As to blood -</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ah, blood, the whole subject fascinates me. I do like that as well, warm and dripping, when I am thirsty.... </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alisa has been in control of her urges for the five thousand years she has been a vampire. She feeds but does not kill, and she lives her life on the fringe to maintain her secret. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must break her own rules in order to survive.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her quest leads her to Ray. He is the only person who can help her; he also has every reason to fear her. Alisa must get closer to him to ensure her immortality. But as she begins to fall in love with Ray, suddenly there is more at stake than her own life...</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7823549-immortal-beloved?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1341291825l/7823549.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved #1)</i> by Cate Tiernan</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe--until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cate Tiernan, author of the popular Sweep series, returns with an engaging story of a timeless struggle and inescapable romance, the first book in a stunning new fantasy trilogy.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8755776-city-of-lost-souls?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369452311l/8755776.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments #5)</i> by Cassandra Clare</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20577546-the-headhunters-race?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1390153698l/20577546.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Headhunters Race (Headhunters #1)</i> by Kimberly Afe</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Sixteen-year-old Avene was sentenced to prison at thirteen for a crime she didn't commit. Now she has a chance to win her freedom back – if she enters the Headhunters Race. Second prize isn't so bad either, an upgrade to the Leisure Prison if you make it to the finish line. To win either prize, Avene and the other prisoners must navigate one hundred and fifty miles of dense forest, desert, and worst of all, cannibal territory.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a mechanical collar timed to strangle the prisoners if they're not back in nine days, Avene allies herself with seventeen-year-old McCoy, another prisoner that insists on helping her at every turn and a boy she's trying hard not to fall for. Together they battle nature, other prisoners, and the timed death collars to win the coveted prize. But when Avene is tested with one deadly conflict after another, she realizes there is more at stake than winning her freedom – first she has to survive</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Read: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17926009-falling-for-her-soldier?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387595116l/17926009.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Falling for her Soldier (Perfect Kisses #3)</i> by Ophelia London</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> She fell for the nice guy, but will she fall for the real guy?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ex-ballerina Ellie Bell has twenty-four days left until her self-imposed man-less year is up. No more falling for the wrong kind of guy—charming, sexy, bad. Why can’t she find someone sweet like Charlie Johansson, her soldier pen pal? His e-mails meant the world to her, and she can’t stop thinking about him…until she meets Hunter, whose muscles and cocky smile threaten to have her relapsing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before Charlie “Big Game Hunter” Johansson’s last tour of duty, he’d gone through women like crazy. But after connecting on a real, emotional level via letters with his best friend’s sister, Charlie’s ready for a relationship—with Ellie Bell. But then her brother introduces him as Hunter. Proving he’s no longer a player by becoming Ellie’s dance partner for an Army benefit seems like it could convince both siblings he’s changed, but the harder he falls for Ellie, the harder it is to come clean. Can he convince her to fall for the real him before it’s too late?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://chaptersonapage.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-falling-for-her-soldier-perfect.html" target="_blank">Click here to read the review!!</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328559506l/13335037.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Divergent (Divergent #1)</i> by Veronica Roth</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I'm still reading this, but I've obviously stopped and read another book this week which is why I haven't finished this. Most likely will tonight and hopefully a review will be up this week. </span></div>
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<a href="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1337964452l/12812550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1337964452l/12812550.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not that world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm still itching to read this book! Definitely plan on this being the book I read after I finally finish rereading Divergent. </span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-22863016216438457332014-04-26T11:30:00.000-04:002014-05-05T13:13:51.146-04:00Review: Falling for her Soldier (Perfect Kisses #3) by Ophelia London<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17926009-falling-for-her-soldier" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387595116l/17926009.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Falling for her Soldier (Perfect Kisses #3) </i>by Ophelia London</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ebook; 219 pages</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Published by Entangled: Bliss on January 13, 2014</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating: 4.5 stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received this book through a giveaway hosted by <a href="http://rainydayramblings.com/" target="_blank">Rainy Day Ramblings</a>. This by no means is influencing my review, all my thoughts are honest and true. Big thanks to Heidi and Ophelia!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Summary (Goodreads): </i></b>She fell for the nice guy, but will she fall for the real guy?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ex-ballerina Ellie Bell has twenty-four days left until her self-imposed man-less year is up. No more falling for the wrong kind of guy—charming, sexy, bad. Why can’t she find someone sweet like Charlie Johansson, her soldier pen pal? His e-mails meant the world to her, and she can’t stop thinking about him…until she meets Hunter, whose muscles and cocky smile threaten to have her relapsing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before Charlie “Big Game Hunter” Johansson’s last tour of duty, he’d gone through women like crazy. But after connecting on a real, emotional level via letters with his best friend’s sister, Charlie’s ready for a relationship—with Ellie Bell. But then her brother introduces him as Hunter. Proving he’s no longer a player by becoming Ellie’s dance partner for an Army benefit seems like it could convince both siblings he’s changed, but the harder he falls for Ellie, the harder it is to come clean. Can he convince her to fall for the real him before it’s too late?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first saw this book, it was through the giveaway on Rainy Day Ramblings. I was interested in the premise, and loved the extra information given by the author, so I entered the giveaway, and I didn't leave empty handed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The personalities of both Ellie and Charlie really drew me in. I loved seeing them interact with both one another and with others. Each one of them had their own unique voice when it came to their perspectives too, and I really loved that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both characters had quite a few things they needed to overcome in the book, and you can see how they both are gradually helping one another with this. Ellie became a workaholic after her injury that ended her professional dance career and her mother's passing. This is what mostly distracted her from her problems. Charlie "Big Game Hunter" was a player, but since the last mission he was on, he feels changed, even if most don't believe him. With one another though, Ellie is able to break away from her workaholic tendencies and live a little more freely, and Charlie is able to show and prove to others and himself that he isn't womanizer "Hunter" anymore, he found someone to love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the romance in this book seems to move super quickly, I feel it has a justified reasoning behind this. While Ellie doesn't know for a while who Hunter really is, Hunter knows who she is and how much they connected through months of emails before they met in person. Ellie still feels this connection with Hunter though, but she fights back and forth with herself mentally because she thinks Charlie is someone else. Throughout the book, I just wanted to yell at Charlie to just tell her who he was! There was literally tension because of the secret on every page, as you never knew when she would finally find out his true identity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though the pace of the romance may seem quick in some senses, I remember reading and feeling the sexual tension between them from the first moment Charlie laid eyes on Ellie. As their relationship progressed, I just wanted them to kiss already, and kiss they did! The writing of this is really spot on, because it's able to pull off being well written and sexy without being too overpowering or like the author was trying too hard. There was literally just the right amount of romance mixed in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another big thing that I respected a lot about this book was how Charlie wanted to help Ellie keep up her goal, even if it wasn't ideal for him. It showed that he wanted her to do things for her even if they inconvenience him. That to me is one key to love, because you want your significant other to be happy and fulfilled.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly this story was breathtaking and left me smiling through most of the story. I love the chemistry between the two characters and the way the story fits itself together. I'm definitely a fan of Ophelia London now, and while I haven't read the other Perfect Kisses novels yet, they will be a new addition to my bookshelf soon enough!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">★★★★½</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-87830596240052216942014-04-22T09:25:00.001-04:002014-04-22T09:25:47.115-04:00Top Ten Tuesday #5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15r-q1XeZQuDkTu_QkXOsL5Y6Xozgv8o8BYPcu3lFjPafUiiYslo4NuBvws6pqsj6xrmosdGh4lAY_42ZaCuakbk1mgduICo5TfrNIzOg10ysL2NaMebLjd1nofV_TnJI4PkW3eGDcr6/s320/toptentuesday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr15r-q1XeZQuDkTu_QkXOsL5Y6Xozgv8o8BYPcu3lFjPafUiiYslo4NuBvws6pqsj6xrmosdGh4lAY_42ZaCuakbk1mgduICo5TfrNIzOg10ysL2NaMebLjd1nofV_TnJI4PkW3eGDcr6/s320/toptentuesday.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>April 22: Top Ten Characters I Would Love to be Friends With</b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blue from The Raven Cycle</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rose from Vampire Academy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four from Divergent</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hazel from the Fault in Our Stars</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Katniss from The Hunger Games</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Katy from the Lux Series</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hermione from Harry Potter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clary from The Mortal Instruments</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon from The Mortal Instruments</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seth from The Scorpio Races</span></li>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-5515772564972337592014-04-20T12:00:00.000-04:002014-04-20T20:33:11.406-04:00Sunday Mega Update #5<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a while!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>New Books:</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've gotten a lot actually, I've gone to some thrift stores and my mom has picked some up on her trips to thrift stores as well, so I've gotten a lot of second hand books, as well as winning a few through giveaways and buying a few ebooks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>ebooks: </i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21000786-miss-mabel-s-school-for-girls" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1394060775l/21000786.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Miss Mabel's School for Girls (Network Series #1)</i> by Katie Cross</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Never underestimate the power of a determined witch.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Letum Wood is a forest of fog and deadfall, home to the quietly famous Miss Mabel’s School for Girls, a place where young witches learn the art of magic.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sixteen-year-old Bianca Monroe has inherited a deadly curse. Determined to break free before it kills her, she enrolls in the respected school to confront the cunning witch who cast the curse: Miss Mabel.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bianca finds herself faced with dark magic she didn’t expect, with lessons more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Will Bianca have the courage to save herself from the curse, or will Miss Mabel’s sinister plan be too powerful?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Miss Mabel’s School for Girls is the first novel in The Network Series, an exciting new fantasy collection. A gripping tale about the struggle to survive, it will take you to a new place and time, one you’ll never want to leave</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18808865-red-at-night?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1392380487l/18808865.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Red at Night </i>by Katie McGarry</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> In Red at Night, Stella and Jonah are total opposites. She's the girl with purple hair from the wrong part of town. He's a high school senior who hangs with the cool crowd. Until a car accident leaves him haunted by guilt, and Jonah starts spending time at Stella's favorite refuge…the local cemetery.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stella knows she should keep her distance—after all, she spent her girlhood being bullied by Jonah's friends. Once he's sorted out his tangled emotions, Jonah won't have time for her anymore. Too bad she's already fallen for him</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11808950-sweet-evil?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1337613719l/11808950.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1)</i> by Wendy Higgins</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Embrace the Forbidden</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Thrift Store Books/On Sale Cheap:</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6441509-shadow-souls" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1389906745l/6441509.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Shadow Souls (The Vampire Diaries: The Return #2)</i> by L. J. Smith</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> On the run . . .</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elena Gilbert's love, the vampire Stefan Salvatore, has been captured and imprisoned by demonic spirits who are wreaking havoc in Fell's Church. While her friends Bonnie and Meredith explore the evil that has taken over their town, Elena goes in search of Stefan.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to find him, she entrusts her life to Stefan's brother, Damon Salvatore, the handsome but deadly vampire who wants Elena, body and soul. Along with her childhood friend Matt, they set out for the slums of the Dark Dimension, where Stefan is being held captive. It is rumored to be a world where vampires and demons roam free, but humans must live enslaved to their supernatural masters. . . .</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elena will stop at nothing to free Stefan. Yet with each passing day the tension between Elena and Damon grows, and she is faced with a terrible decision: Which brother does she really want?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in Fell's Church, Bonnie and Meredith have made some dire discoveries. They hastily try to follow Elena and warn her—only to be caught up in Elena's most dangerous adventure yet</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2985500-night-world-no-2" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388208564l/2985500.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Night World #2 (Night World #4-6)</i> by L. J. Smith</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 4 - Dark Angel</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 5 - The Chosen</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 6 - Soulmate</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters -- they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Dark Angel, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gillian, Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Armed with a wooden stake, martial arts, and the will to resist a vampire's mind control, Rashel struggles to avenge her mother's death in The Chosen. Then she meets Quinn, her soulmate, who is part of the world she has vowed to destroy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hannah receives notes warning her of incredible danger in Soulmate. But if death is her destiny, is the Lord of the Night World's love strong enough to save her?</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3575676-night-world-no-3" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1395363499l/3575676.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Night World #3 (Night World #7-9)</i> by L. J. Smith</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Includes:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 7 - Huntress</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 8 - Black Dawn</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Book 9 - Witchlight</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters - they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And fallin in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the world from the impending doom. Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, is searching for the four who can stop the darkness.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A vampire hunter - who is half vampire - stalks her own kind to protect humans in Huntress.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Black Dawn, Maggie stumbles upon an old Night World kingdom where the ruling vampire prince is both an enemy and an ally.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And Circle Daybreak hires Keller, a shapeshifting panther, to guard a new Wild power in Witchlight. But when Keller falls in love with the Wild Power's soulmate, her love could destroy everything...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have the first book in this series yet, but I couldn't turn down two out of three books selling for really cheap!</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8572704-always-a-witch" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1286694645l/8572704.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Always a Witch (Witch #2)</i> by Carolyn MacCullough</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The adventures of Tam and Gabriel continue with more time travel, Talents, spy work, and of course, the evil Knights.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since the gripping conclusion of Once A Witch, Tamsin Greene has been haunted by her grandmother's prophecy that she will soon be forced to make a crucial decision—one so terrible that it could harm her family forever. When she discovers that her enemy, Alistair Knight, went back in time to Victorian-era New York in order to destroy her family, Tamsin is forced to follow him into the past. Stranded all alone in the nineteenth century, Tamsin soon finds herself disguised as a lady's maid in the terrifying mansion of the evil Knight family, avoiding the watchful eye of the vicious matron, La Spider, and fending off the advances of Liam Knight. As time runs out, both families square off in a thrilling display of magic. And to her horror, Tamsin finally understands the nature of her fateful choice</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still haven't read the first book but I won't turn down a good buy!</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10261812-the-space-between" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1303260518l/10261812.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Space Between</i> by Brenna Yovanoff</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13455112-origin" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1346121755l/13455112.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Origin</i> by Jessica Khoury</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home―and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin―a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost</span></div>
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<a href="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1395363515l/8626059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1395363515l/8626059.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Presence: A Ghost Story</i> by Eve Bunting</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: A brutal car accident that claimed the life of her best friend has left seventeen-year-old Catherine in a state of shock and severe depression. She longs to move forward with her life, but feels she can’t until she is somehow assured of her friend’s forgiveness. On a Christmas visit to her grandmother in Pasadena, a mysterious and handsome stranger approaches Catherine at church claiming that he can put her in touch with her dead friend. Catherine is wary of the stranger’s claims and his ghostly appearance but feels he may be the only key to escaping her past. She tells no one of the meeting but is approached by an elderly woman who warns her of the stranger’s powers. The woman’s teenage diary and eerie rumors surrounding other troubled girls who have disappeared from the church community leave Catherine fearful of the stranger’s true intentions. She realizes she must find some way to confront this supernatural presence as well as the ghosts of her past.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A classic ghost story from one of Clarion’s most distinguished authors. Eve Bunting brings a new edge to the genre of suspense by interweaving contemporary issues with sharp and frightful storytelling.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/431745.Stay_with_Me" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348389471l/431745.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Stay With Me</i> by Garret Freymann-Weyr</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel was born some twenty years after her sisters. Her elegant sisters from her father’s first marriage have lives full of work, love affairs, and travel. Leila doesn’t know either of them very well, but she loves hearing about them—details of Rebecca’s ruined marriage, Clare’s first job, and the strings of unsuitable boyfriends.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Rebecca kills herself, Leila wants to know why. She starts by spending time with Clare and finally comes to know her as a person instead of a story. With Clare’s reluctant help, Leila tracks down Rebecca’s favorite places and tries to find her sister’s friends. Along the way, Leila meets Eamon.Eamon is thirty-one and writes for television. He thinks Leila is beautiful and smart, but he does not, he tells her, date teenagers. And yet, the months go by and Leila turns seventeen and learns that you can love someone you are not dating.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe letting Eamon love her back is a mistake. Maybe she’ll never know why Rebecca did what she did. Maybe, Leila, decides, most people have a hard time figuring out which way is left or knowing when to let go and when to stay.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15749887-beautiful-disaster" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1354353281l/15749887.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) </i>by Jamie McGuire</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10800955-strange-angels-and-betrayals" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1346550330l/10800955.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Strange Angels and Betrayals (Strange Angels #1-2)</i> by Lili St. Crow</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> The first two books in Lili St. Crow’s New York Times bestselling Strange Angels series are published together in one volume for the first time!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sixteen-year-old Dru Anderson exploded onto the paranormal scene in Strange Angels—and fought for her life at a secret Schola for djamphir and wulfen teens in Betrayals. Perfectly timed to lead up to the publication of series finale Reckoning, this omnibus edition is a must-have for all Dru’s fans as well as readers of Vampire Academy, House of Night, and The Darkest Powers.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17393012-backward-glass" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1366561583l/17393012.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Backward Glass</i> by David Lomax</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Crack your head, knock you dead, then Prince Harming's hunger's fed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's 1977, and Kenny Maxwell is dreading the move away from his friends. But then, behind the walls of his family's new falling-apart Victorian home, he finds something incredible--a mummified baby and a note: "Help me make it not happen, Kenny. Help me stop him."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shortly afterwards, a beautiful girl named Luka shows up. She introduces Kenny to the backward glass, a mirror that allows them to travel through time. Meeting other "mirror kids" in the past and future is exciting, but there's also danger. The urban legend of Prince Harming, who kidnaps and kills children, is true--and he's hunting them. When Kenny gets stranded in the past, he must find the courage to answer a call for help, change the fate of a baby--and confront his own destiny.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9525069-zen-and-xander-undone" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347315020l/9525069.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Zen and Xander Undone</i> by Amy Kathleen Ryan</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Zen and Xander are sisters—truly, madly, deeply sisters—and this is their last summer together. They are surviving fine since their mother’s death. Except Zen keeps getting into fights and Xander is spiraling into a vortex of dangerous parties. In the midst of the chaos, Zen and Xander discover a mystery about their mother’s past. Sharing its secrets will be the bond that holds them together</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6202108-crazy-beautiful" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388908546l/6202108.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Crazy Beautiful</i> by Lauren Baratz-Logsted</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6295148-the-guidance" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347448578l/6295148.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Guidance (Ghost Huntress #2)</i> by Marley Gibson</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Kendall and her ghost hunting team is the talk of Radisson, Georgia, but one person isn't so pleased. Courtney Langdon doesn't appreciate Kendall's new popularity or her relationship with Jason, Courtney's ex. So Courtney begins dabbling in the paranormal world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't read the first book but my mom picked this up for me so I plan to!</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9054886-freefall" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347683202l/9054886.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Freefall</i> by Ariela Anhalt</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Three guys from the Briar Academy fencing team went up to the cliff that night for a hazing ritual—but only two came back alive. Now Luke’s best friend, Hayden, is in jail and the pressure is on Luke to report what he saw. But what did he see? An accident—or a murder? Luke has always followed Hayden’s lead, but this is one decision he’ll be forced to make on his own. And to do it, he must face the truth about his friendship with Hayden and his own painful past</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6396829-the-well" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347705507l/6396829.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Well</i> by A.J. Whitten</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary: </i>If Hamlet thought he had issues, he should have talked to Cooper Warner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His mother’s normally sunny demeanor has turned into something—homicidal.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And what’s worse, she has help in her hunt for Cooper: A ravenous monster living at the bottom of the old well in the woods behind their house. She’s determined to deliver her 14-year-old son straight into the creature’s eager clutches. Cooper turns to his girlfriend, Megan, for help, but then, to his horror, the creature takes her prisoner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, it’s up to Cooper to fend off his murderous mother, finish his Hamlet paper, and enter the putrid lair at the bottom of the well to rescue Megan. And when he confronts the creature, Cooper must make the toughest decision of his life: kill, or be killed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Inspired by Hamlet, THE WELL puts a terrifying twist on the Shakespearean classic.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11459783-cable-s-image" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349031378l/11459783.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Cable's Image</i> by Susan Hausman</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: The Pursuit. Nevin Cable is cursed. He is cursed with a name he hates, an absent father, and a drunk mother. Resolved to never end up like either of his parents, Nevin joins the military. This decision alters his life forever. Cable's Image explores the social issues of adoption and divorce. Nevin Cable is the voice of this century's societal ills.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Books won through giveaways:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was thrilled to win a few books through giveaways and cannot wait to read them! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In ebook form, I won: </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15769793-colonization" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1343648739l/15769793.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Colonization (Paradise Reclaimed #1)</i> by Aubrie Dionne</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Finding a new home has never been so dangerous. Andromeda has spent all seventeen years of her life aboard a deep space transport vessel destined for a paradise planet. Her safe cocoon is about to break open as Paradise 21 looms only one month away, and she must take the aptitude tests to determine her role on the new world and her computer assigned lifemate. As a great-granddaughter of the Commander of the ship, she wants to live up to her family name. But, her forbidden love for her childhood friend, Sirius, distracts her and she fails the tests. The results place her in a menial role in the new colony and pair her with Corvus, ?the oaf?. But when Andromeda steps foot on Paradise 21, her predestined future is the least of her worries. Alien ghosts from a failed colonization warn her of a deadly threat to her colony. And when Sirius's ship crashes on the far ridge in an attempt to investigate, she journeys to rescue him with Corvus. Andromeda now must convince the authorities of the imminent danger to protect her new home. What she didn't expect was a battle of her own feelings for Sirius and Corvus. Can she save the colony and discover her true love?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other book I won is in paperback form, and it's signed! </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6514178-the-knife-of-never-letting-go" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320481925l/6514178.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1)</i> by Patrick Ness</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Read: </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, as I talked about in my Update and Apology, I haven't finished a book since I last posted here. I guess it was a reader's block, which I'm sure a lot of you have experienced at some point, but I'm coming back! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Currently Reading: </i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328559506l/13335037.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Divergent (Divergent #1)</i> by Veronica Roth</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is being reread, and will have a review when it's completed again.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10572.A_Clash_of_Kings?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1358254974l/10572.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2)</i> by George R. R. Martin</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary</i>: Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead...victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been reading this book on and off for about a year now. I love the story but sometimes I have a really hard time getting into it. Lately I have been able to enjoy reading this here and there, and I think it helped get me back into reading. No idea when I'll be finished this book, and I highly doubt I will review it with how long it is taking me to read it. </span></div>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12812550-days-of-blood-starlight?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1337964452l/12812550.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not that world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is—and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I actually read the first chapter of this book, but I haven't read any more since, so I didn't feel like I could count it as currently reading. I plan on continuing it though when I finish Divergent. </span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-81265987010860343962014-04-19T21:42:00.000-04:002014-04-19T21:42:00.555-04:00Update and Apologies<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello everyone! First I want to apologize for being gone for so long. That's why this is an update of sorts, to explain everything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">School for me has really been picking up as it's the end of my senior year and there's a bunch that still needs to get done. Along with that, there's a ton of things that came up for the college I'm attending in the fall, and that has been taking up a lot of my time as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along with all of this, I've come to see that I was also putting a lot of pressure on myself to work on this blog, and it made it so I pretty much just quit. I still really really want to do this blog, but I don't think I should set high expectations on myself right off the bat. I think I should start out slower and not set restrictions and specifics for myself and just enjoy the blogging and reading experience. In fact, I was stressing myself over it so much that I ended up not reading much of anything the past few weeks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So basically, what I'm saying here is that I plan on still posting, just not every day. I'll post reviews as I finish books until I feel confident enough to start a review queue. That's when I hope the blog will really take off, because then if I get set back because of something it won't be a huge impact. For now though, I'll try to post reviews, as I said, and I'll try to keep up my Sunday updates. I plan on posting for Top Ten Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday as well, but I can't promise posts on that for now. I also hope to post some other things as time goes on, but I don't have specifics for them at the moment. Really though, I need to get back into reading, as I have a ton to read and am excited to do so, but I want to read for enjoyment, not rush through so I can get a review up on my blog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that's really all there is to it. I don't know how frequent the reviews will be, but they're coming. Hopefully people will still check out my blog and I can continue being a part of the book blog community!!</span>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-71259238444167025272014-04-02T09:00:00.000-04:002014-04-02T09:00:08.016-04:00Waiting on Wednesday #4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13618440-dreams-of-gods-and-monsters?ac=1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1378892134l/13618440.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3)</i> by Laini Taylor</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Release Date: <span style="color: red;">April 8, 2014</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Summary:</i> By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her, if there can even be a future for the chimaera in war-ravaged Eretz.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Common enemy, common cause.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Jael's brutal seraph army trespasses into the human world, the unthinkable becomes essential, and Karou and Akiva must ally their enemy armies against the threat. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, perhaps, for themselves. Toward a new way of living, and maybe even love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there are bigger threats than Jael in the offing. A vicious queen is hunting Akiva, and, in the skies of Eretz ... something is happening. Massive stains are spreading like bruises from horizon to horizon; the great winged stormhunters are gathering as if summoned, ceaselessly circling, and a deep sense of wrong pervades the world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What power can bruise the sky?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond, humans, chimaera and seraphim will fight, strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the very barriers of space and time, what do gods and monsters dream of? And does anything else matter?</span></div>
Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960207364410180415.post-61118116943933644942014-04-01T01:55:00.000-04:002014-04-01T01:55:44.247-04:00Top Ten Tuesday #4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>April 1: Top Ten "Gateway" Books/Authors In My Reading Journey (so your list could be a mix of a books that got you into reading, an author that got you into reading a genre you never thought you'd read, a book that brought you BACK into read)</b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Harry Potter series by J K Rowling</b></i> - This series was one of the first that I ever read. I was so enamored with this series and it really showed me that outside of school reading can be fun!</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket </b></i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- This series was one that also really helped me see that reading was fun as a kid</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wicked Lovely Series by Melissa Marr</b> </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- This series wasn't necessarily my first jump into Young Adult or anything, but it was the first series I really got into in a long time</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan</b></i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> -</b> I wasn't really reading much, but this series, along with a few other books, helped me get back into reading when I was in a really bad place, and I've been reading a lot ever since. This one was the most prominent in pulling me back in to reading at that time, which is why I picked to list this one.</span></li>
<li><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Fault in Our Stars by John Green</b> </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Though I had read some contemporary novels before this, this book was really the one that got me to like them a lot more, and since then, while it's not too many, I've began reading more contemporary than I used to and tend to enjoy them all.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>The Book Thief by Markus Zusak </i></b>- This book made me realize that I actually like books that take place a while back in time, whether it's paranormal or not. I used to not want to ever read historical fiction, but this book made me interested in that genre a lot more.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - </i>This book made me realize that I didn't have to dislike every book that school made me read. I used to hold unnecessary grudges against books I was forced to read, but with this book I was able to push through that grudge and actually enjoy it. Though I'm still usually hard on school books (classics really aren't my kind of thing. I appreciate them but I wouldn't read them on my own), I have learned to like them more than I did before.</span></li>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05621347987311555824noreply@blogger.com8