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Archive for January, 2014

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Posted in reviews, tagged , , , on January 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Fire (Graceling Realm, #2)Fire by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That was quite a journey. At first I thought Fire was very similar to Katsa from Graceling, but she was actually very different. A beautiful monster who could hear people’s thoughts and also, get inside their heads and change their thoughts. I found the first half of the book tense, not many people liked Fire and I kept on waiting for the attacks. The royal family was great – filled with a variety of characters and the brooding Brigan was instantly my favourite.
The description of The Dells, the colours of the country side, the flowers and trees, the buildings and the colourful monsters was fantastic, I so wanted to go there, and watching the characters develop their relationships was very satisfying. And then, a terrible thing happened. Without going into detail, watching Fire grieve was quite difficult. It was difficult watching her grieve but then even more difficult watching her feeling so sorry for herself.
I really like the ending and felt that it tied off a few loose ends…. Although there are still a few loose ends hanging out there….. Glad I have read Graceling, and now just have to read Bitterblue.

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Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith

Posted in reviews, tagged , on January 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wild AwakeWild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I want to say that this was such a full on read. I was expecting a fun, slightly coming of age story with a girl and a guy and music. And it was all of that but so much more. As I got into the story and got to know Kiri, I felt like I was losing myself in her fractured yet solid world. She was all over the place yet seemed to know exactly where she was going. And Skunk. What can I say about Skunk. He was just as broken as Kiri and it was like they were two pieces of a puzzle that fit together perfectly.
There were so many elements to the story; grief, anger, trust, determination, denial, acceptance but love was always there as well.
And that title. It is the perfect title for this book.

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This song will save your life by Leila Sales

Posted in reviews, tagged , on January 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This Song Will Save Your LifeThis Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So good, so so good. I knew within the first ten minutes I was going to read this in one sitting.
Have to gather my thoughts though before I write anymore.
……………………………………………………………………………………
It might have been my mood but I found at least the first half of this book heartbreaking. Bullying is such a horrific experience and in this book, the thoughts and feelings of Elise, who was being bullied, were so real, I felt like I was experiencing it along with her.
And so thank god for music and DJs and dance party warehouses. Watching Elise slowly make new friends, with people who didn’t go to her school, was very nice and although I had some reservations about some of them, they were still the people that helped her realise she was not worthless.

Elise was a young girl, going through what so many young people go through and who was actually very strong and very brave and so important and in the end, I am so glad that she knew it.

Some of Elise’s words that broke me a little:

‘Why are you being nice to me? I wanted to know. But I didn’t ask. If I asked that, they might realise their mistake’

‘I scampered after them as they turned a corner, down a small alleyway between warehouses. I was probably about to get kidnapped. But, honestly, I would have rather been kidnapped by these girls than remained un-kidnapped among my classmates.’

‘Sometimes you just have those days where everything goes wrong. But sometimes, and totally unexpectedly, something can go right’

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Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Posted in reviews, tagged , , , , , , on January 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)Graceling by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I originally read this one a few years ago and was wanting to read ‘Fire’ and ‘Bitterblue’ and so decided to read this again to set the scene. And set the scene it did. I remembered about half of the story and remembered that it had all of the things I love – kick ass girls, swords and daggers, magic, surviving the elements while the evil villain is chasing you down…. and a bit of swoon.

Graceling was all this and so much more. I love the characters – Bitterblue is such a sweet yet strong little girl, Po is intelligent, brave and knows how to smile and then there is Katsa – so strong and fearless, confident and smart and yet when she breaks, you see just how vulnerable she can be. She was a fantastic character who I immediately connected with. The adventures and travels that she ends up on are full of interesting, scary, beautiful and heart-racing people and places and you can’t help but to hold your breath to find out what exactly is going to happen on the next page.

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Poison Study by Maria V Snyder

Posted in reviews, tagged , , on January 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Poison Study (Study, #1)Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great read! The story reminded me of Obernewtyn, which I just read, and also Throne of glass – book books that I loved. Yelena, who had been spending her time in a prison cell for murder (totally justified murder that is) is picked as the official food taster for the current Commander of the lands. She has to learn what different poisons taste like in order to identify them in the Commanders food. Throw in Valek, who is teaching her about the poisons along with driving her crazy with his rude comments (yeah…. You know there is going to be some swoon happening there!!) and a cast of characters from Cook to seamstress, to medic, to guards, all living in a mixed up castle, along with a number of choices for who the evil bad guy/girl really is and you have yourself a good story!
I really liked Yelena and I liked watching her get to know her place in the castle and also grow more confident in her skills and abilities. Valek was a strong character who I could just tell was a big softie and the evil baddies, were definitely evil. Lots of action and adventure with swordplay and fighting and a little bit of swoon as well. I found the writing just flowed and right now I really just want to get the second book in the series so I can stay in this world for a little but longer.

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Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Posted in reviews on January 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Love Letters to the DeadLove Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do enjoy books that are written in the form of letters and this was no exception. Especially since half of the letters were written to people that I know and love – Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Heath Ledger, Janis Joplin…..
It didn’t take me long to realise that this book was going to be a bit of a heartbreaker. After about page 30 I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that something terrible had happened and I was going to find out all about it throughout the story.
The writing was beautiful, almost lyrical at times and the characters were all so real.
Laurel was the writer of all of the letters and I found it almost painful listening to her trying to cope with what happened to her sister, and also to herself. She really went on a journey and with the help of her friends and her family, she found out who she actually was, how people saw her and how she saw herself.
At the end of the story I had tears running down my face but it was all totally worth it.

There were so many quotes in this that I copied down, too many to include in this review but here is one of my favourites – I love this description.

About Kurt Cobain:
‘…Sky was still looking. His eyes were like your voice – keys to a place in me that could burst open’

Received from NetGalley.

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