In My Mailbox (7)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by Kristi from The Story Siren where bloggers can share what books they've received and what they're planning on reviewing.

Hey guys! It's Karina! Doing my second IMM, but I decided to continue our numbers and made it the 7th one on our blog.

So I do it now mostly becaue I finally feel like I have enough books to make an IMM. So here's what I got!

Won:

Divergent by Veronica Roth from Just A YA Girl

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead from Diary of A Bibliophile

Authors sent:

The Last Seal by Richard Denning

The Raie'Chaelia (ebook) by Melissa Douthit

Bought:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (from Borders)

From the library:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

So that's what I got in my mailbox. What did you get in yours?

Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Pages: 432
Publisher: Paperback, Little, Brown & Company (ARC)

From Goodreads:

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My review:

This book was sooo good!

Now I'm here to tell you why.

Laini Taylor is an amazing writer. The way she added so much detail so that you could everything in your head was just amazing. She has a unique style of writing, which at first I was a little mystified by but then loved. Seeing everything was just made easier when she described it against something we already know.

For example: Eye's like a tiger.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone isn't just written in one point of view either, which is great because you get that chance to see the situation in the eyes of another person. I love when authors do this because it allows you to see what's going on in the character's head and therefore lead you to understand them better.

The big issue of the story on it's own isn't that unique, and it's something we've read more than once, but when it was added with all the different elements of the story it seems like its own unique story. It really goes well with the book since it allows you the see how the different sides of the war view not only the war itself but also each other and themselves.

I enjoyed how the different parts had their own little sentences to tell you what you could expect of the segment. It was great when you got to read about what happened in the past, so that you understood why characters were acting they way they were in the present.

The characters stay true to themselves, they didn't just magically change their way of speech or manner when something drastic happened. Sure, they adapted to the changes, but they did it in their character like way. It's something hard to describe, but I hope that made some sort of sense. They were also great characters to read about. Each one had a unique personality that made them stand out in the story and of course you just loved them (or hated them). I feel like some characters, such as Kaz, were suddenly forgotten about, their own little story either didn't end or just wasn't tied up nicely. But seeing as this is going to be a series (we can expect at least one more book since that could not have been the ending) I hope that Laini Taylor is going to bring them back in some way and tie it up.

Or not. It could be that Karou's journey in the human world is done and that for now on it'll take place elsewhere.

A few things confused me though, like the location of Elsewhere (mostly likely not called that). And where exactly is the shop? Is it in this intersection between Elsewhere and the Human world? And how the chimera's world is connected to the seraph's? Because if they were in the same world, I don't understand why the serphas went as far as they did with the door and the hands. (Don't want to spoil it! So that may sound confusing).

*mini spoiler: skip till end of spoiler if you don't want to read*

Karou and Akiva are so cute together! I knew that something was going to keep them apart though, their relationship(if that's what they had) just started off way too fast and without issue for it to keep going smoothly.

*End of mini spoiler*

The title of the book makes perfect sense by the end, and so does the cover! (The cover pictured here, in case they change it when they really publish it.)

I'm definitely going to have my eyes out for the next book.

Overall:

Did I fall in love with this book? Heck yes! I loved this book. I put off summer reading, which is due on Monday, to read this book. I spent consecutive hours reading this book, missing most of dinner, because I was just so captured and enraptured in it.

Would I recommend it to someone? Of course! Why wouldn't you read Daughter of Smoke and Bone?

Rating: 4.73/5

Karina

Review: Accomplice by Eireann Corrigan

Title: Accomplice
Author: Eireann Corrigan
Pages: 296
Published: Hardcover, Scholastic Press 2010

From Goodreads:

They've gotten good grades - but that's not good enough. They've spent hours on community service - but that's not good enough. Finn and Chloe's advisor says that colleges have enough kids with good grades and perfect attendance, so Chloe decides they'll have to attract attention another way. She and Finn will stage Chloe's disappearance, and then, when CNN is on their doorstep and the nation is riveted, Finn will find and save her. It seems like the perfect plan - until things start to go wrong. Very wrong.

My Review:

Much better than I originally thought it would be. I guess this means I should stop assuming things about books before I read them.

Accomplice was good, and intense. I couldn't set the book down once I started it, so that means I was up reading till about one in the morning. Thank goodness school hasn't started yet or else I'd be dead.

What made Accomplice such a great read was basically it's story. Personally, I've never read a book where two girls planned their own kidnapping to get famous, and then get into good colleges. It helped that it was just filled with good and interesting characters.

In a way, I almost seemed to connect with the book. Being a junior in high school like the characters, the idea of college is kind of stressing me out. And that essay I'm supposed to write is even more stressful. To write about something you're really good at/or compassionate about but haven't mentioned it in your transcript is how my college counselor put it.

But it would have never occurred to me to plan my own kidnapping.

Let's talk about the characters:

Finn. At first, I thought she was a girl. Then I found out her name was Finley, and went by Finn so then I thought she was a he due to the name (another assumption) and then I just settled with Finn being a girl because of the way she spoke, the friends she hung out with.

I felt like Eireann Corrigan wrote this character well. Constantly, Finn was having internal struggles about doing what was right and her loyalty to her best friend. She went from being sort of naive to truthfully understand of situations.

She wasn't perfect. She didn't lead the student body, didn't have a boyfriend, didn't have boys secretly fawning for her. She was just Finn, just a country girl and I liked that. I liked how Finn felt invisible, the one cut out from the frame. It made her more realistic.

I just wish she had more guts to say no. I honestly do. But then, I guess the book wouldn't have turned out the way it did.

Chloe. Oh Chloe. She was a special character. I figure her as being slightly insane. Honestly though, I didn't really like her that much. She had this obsessive personality and I secretly think she was just doing anything possible to get out of the country.

Dean. I loved Dean! He was my all time favorite character! I hated how they were mean to him. Stuttering Dean. Stupid children, calling people names. This guy had real dreams and honestly he was such a good guy. I wish things had turned out better for him.

I categorize this book as realistic-fiction, because it goes through the story, then it goes through the afterwards and it reminds you that stories don't always have HEAs (Happily-Ever-After).

Overall:

Did I fall in love with this book? Honestly I didn't fall in love with it, but I really liked it. Definitely going on my wish list.

Would I recommend it: Hell yeah!

Rating: 4/5 stars

Karina

Review: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Sorry we didn't get this posted earlier. I finished reading it a while ago actually, and was waiting for April to write her review so we'd have one post, but someone has been busy with school/SAT/True Blood (:D) so you guys only get one review today.

Title: Iron Knight
Pages: 386
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN, ebook ARC (Netgalley)

From Goodreads:

Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.
And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

My review (and re-summary):
Julie Kagawa has done it again! Her latest and final installment to the Iron Fey series is just as good as we all had been waiting for.

Told in the point of view of the ex-Winter Prince Ash, the story depicts his journey to do the near impossible: find a way to live in the Iron Kingdom with Iron Queen Meghan.

Along the way, Ash re-finds things about himself that he's kept locked up for a long time. And having Puck with him is not making the journey any easier.

Together with Grim and new characters, they work together to help Ash acheive his goal.
The journey itself is difficult, but when they reach their destination, Ash finds out what it truly means to be mortal. So which path will he end up choosing?

One of the reasons I love reading the Iron Fey series, besides Puck, is that Julie Kagawa has a way of making me always want more. While I read, I was constantly having freak out attacks because I got so excited about what was happening. Or I was just so upset over their desicions or just about to cry. Julie Kagawa is able to do what little authors having a talent of doing, stirring up emotions that one wouldn't dare display in public.

This book really tied up any loose ends and all questions I had, especially the ones I had during this book were all answered through out the story. It was like Julie Kagawa knew what I was going to ask, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, and answered it one way or another. Some books, sadly, do not do that. The author gets side-tracked and just don't return, or it seems that they forgot what they even mentioned before hand.

I'm not going to lie, I would have been okay if the Iron Fey series had ended with The Iron Queen. It would have been close to the old fairy tales, the ones that the Grim Brother's told in which happy endings did not always happy.

I'm also not going to deny that I'm glad she did right this book, becaue I do enjoy happy endings.

Overall: I enjoyed this book a lot, and I'm thankful that HarlequinTEEN allowed me to read it before being published. Julie Kagawa's story keeps you searching through the brambles, just barely being able to see what's ahead, while managing to through a dragon you didn't see for you to fight.

Rating: 3.78/5 stars
Would I reccomend it to others?: Yes! Especially if you were unsatisfied with the ending of book 3.

Did I fall in love with it?: Sadly no, but it will be in my bookshelf for me to reread, so that must count for something.

Karina

In My Mailbox (6)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by Kristi from The Story Siren where bloggers can share what books they've received and what they're planning on reviewing.

So... It's been what, a month?  Sorry for the suckish lack of posts on my part guys :(  So... this week, you get a 3 weeks in one IMM!  If that makes any sense at all.  And you are free to throw rocks at me for not posting a review yesterday... *cries in shame* The reason why I posted an IMM instead of a review is because they take less time to make and for some reason I'm much more focused when I write them up. 

2 weeks ago...

Won:
Family by Micol Ostow, 
What Would My Cell Phone Do by Micol Ostow from Smart Pop YA and Micol Ostow
Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions (anthology) from Jessi @The Elliott Review
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen from Lulu @The Bookworm is Here!
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab *signed* from Irish @Ticket to Anywhere

Clarity by Kim Harrington *signed* from I'm sorry, I really can't figure out who I got this from!  But thank you anyways!

Bought:

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

So, it was around this time that I bought my books for school (no, I didn't include them here, I thought you guys probably wouldn't care what they were haha), and I didn't have time to read these pretties... I've started Enthralled and The Monstrumologist, but I'm going to have to put them on hold for a while...  hopefully I'll be able to read them in 2 weeks?  

Psssttt you guys should definitely check out The Monstrumologist, it won a freakin' Michael Printz award and is good so far.  Was almost discontinued by Simon and Schuster because of lack of sales, but now they're going to publish the fourth book because of the awesome fans who fought for this series.   

Last week...

Won:
City of Bones *signed*, 
City of Ashes *signed*, 
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare *signed* from Kimberly @In the Outhouse
Tighter by Adele Griffin *signed* from Melissa @Mel's Books and Info and Adele Griffin 

Gifted: 
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, 
Maximum Ride: School's Out-Forever by James Patterson from Alice, my friend who is moving to Australia and couldn't bring these with her :(

So excited when I saw the TMI books, like you have no idea.  Love this series but I don't own any of the books.  Same with the Maximum Ride books, I was obsessed with these books in 6th grade, and have been reading them ever since.  Although I really think it should have ended with the 3rd book.  Anyways, I'm glad that I'm finally able to put these pretties on my bookshelf now.  I was also excited to see Tighter, which I've been wanting to read for a while now.  The author even wrote me a card, and OMG she has the prettiest handwriting!  I should have took a picture... She wrote my name on the bubble mailer and I swear, my name has never looked so pretty.

This week...

Won: 
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins,
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (this is an ARC, which we're giving away HERE!),
Sweep (Volume I) by Cate Tiernan and neat-o swag from Tara @Hobbitsies
Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer from Heather Anastasiu 

Words cannot describe my love for Hex Hall.  As of now, my favorite book I've read in 2011.  Yeah, I've only read about thirty something, but easily my favorite.  So I'm extremely excited to finally own a copy. :) I got a second copy of The Near Witch, so gonna give it away as a part of Karina's Birthday Giveaway, along with Beauty Queens and an ARC of Shut Out!  You know I definitely don't have time to read when I can't even read Wolfsbane, which I've been DYING to read since Nightshade came out.

And some neat-o swag I got!

From Starcrossed Trilogy on twitter

from Tara @Hobbitsies

So, what did you get in your mailbox this week? :)

It's Karina's Birthday/Spontaneous Giveaway!

Hello all! It's April... for once.  I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts, I promise I'll post a review by tomorrow/friday!  If I don't, someone please throw rocks at me.  School/SAT/True Blood has gotten in the way of my sanity...  But enough about me...

It's Karina's birthday today! :D  And I randomly decided to have a giveaway in honor of the birth of her awesomeness.  Karina is the original creator of Book Away, and this blog could not be at all possible without her!  (Seriously.  I've pondered creating a blog by myself once, long long ago, too scary.)

We're giving away...

ARC of The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
ARC of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger *signed*
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
Random swag that I have lying around



US only (I'm sorry international followers, I know I say that a lot, but we will have something for you hopefully very soon!)

Contest runs till August 31st, at midnight! (Whatever your midnight is, I'm too lazy to figure out time zones).

*Edit* I'm such a twit, forgot to say what the giveaway was first time around...

Review: Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have)

Title: Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski

Published: June 7th, 2011
Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.
If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.
In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

My Review:

This book was a great easy, summer read.

April, the main character, has decided to leave her family in order to stay in the life she's always known. With a father in Cleveland and a mother in France, April stays to live with her best friend Vi.

The only catch is that Vi's mother is on tour, leaving the house to the girls.

Things start going out of hand from there, with late night marathons, parties and boys, it was only a matter of time before April came to the realization that living alone wasn't as grand as she thought it would be.

From the beginning I knew this wasn't going to be a book I would fall in love with. It was cute, but it didn't have much depth to it.

Some points were very realistic, others (like getting away with living alone for 4 months without parent supervision) weren't. And in a way that's what keeps as a reminder that it was a fiction book.

What I did like about this story was how April would mention something about her past, then there would be like a mini chapter within the big chapter to explain it. It was like each backstory was its own little story and it showed you just how essential it was to the story as a whole.

Rating: 3/5

The Saskatoon Balloon Official Book Trailer!

Hey guys!

We've got an awesome book trailer to show you all! It first came to our attention thanks to Kate O'Hegarty, author of Mieradome and it's sequel The Saskatoon Balloon (which will be released around December 2011). Check it out:



Cool huh? Well it definitely caught my attention and now both books have been added to my to-read list. As soon as I can get my hands on copies of the books, you can be expecting a review.

Here's the summary from Goodreads for Mieradome:

Mieradome pulls the reader into a unique fantasy world of faeries and technology, a different take on the Alice in Wonderland concept. The story revolves around a young girl named Amavia who believes she is a human girl, but slowly comes to find she is a faery in the world of Mieradome. Slowly who Amavia was began to unravel to show the truth; the truth that she just may be the evil they need to destroy. This is the first novel in a series, and gives a glimpse of what is to come for the main character Amavia. Fans of the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials will definitely enjoy this adventure.

Keep checking back for more updates on this series!

Karina

Overview: July

Alright, so here are the stats for July 2011:

In July we had just about 994 pageviews! That's about 25% more than last month! (yeah I did the math)

Here are the Top Five countries that visited Book Away:

1. United States
2. Australia
3. United Kingdom
4. Canada
5. Germany

Good job to our viewers from Australia and UK who moved up in rank from last month! The difference between 2 and 3 was ONE pageview!

Other countries include:

New Zealand

France

Mexico

Italy

Philippines

April and I did a combined of eleven posts, which is a good number but did not beat last month.

Sadly, we didn't get to go see Maggie, so there was no book bought and sadly no contest. Sorry guys. But maybe this month?

Coming in August:

My birthday!

School starts (sadly it will mean less posts)

Release of Bloodlines by Richelle Mead!

Keep up the pageviews! And we appreciate everyone who comments!

RAK July Recap

This was my first time participating in RAK and it was a lot of fun :)  I'm not sure if I'll participate in August because of school and last minute homework, but if I can, I definitely will!

RAK is hosted by the awesome Isalys and Vanessa at Book Soulmates and you can check out the August sign up post and rules HERE. 

Here are the RAKs I sent (yeah, I got a little too excited):

Torment by Lauren Kate to Gina @The Bucket List

Beautiful Darkness to Katie @Novel Society

Anna and the French Kiss to Ishita @The Reading Fish

Dark Mirror by P.J. Putney to Jessie @Remarkable Reading

Crusade by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie to Amber @Me, My Shelf, and I

XVI by Julia Karr to Briana @The Book Pixie

This month, I'd like to thank:

Gina @The Bucket List for sending me Gone by Michael Grant

Briana @The Book Pixie for sending me an ARC of The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

And lastly, I'm sorry for the lack of posts on my part last week (April).  I have no excuse (well, no good excuse), but I hope to be back in the swing of reading, reviewing, and blogging this week.  And if I ever say I want to start watching a tv show in the future, STOP ME.  Thanks for putting up with my crazy :)