Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

Hey guys, Sammi here! \

So. I JUST READ THE BEST BOOK EVER. Well, ahem, sorry about that. Just kidding, I'm not sorry at all!

And it has a beautiful cover:

I literally just realized that was a person in the background as I was searching for this picture. ^ who's observant? Not me. But I am blaming the shiny cover for my lack of noticing sooner. 

Immortal Beloved was fantastic! It's a novel about immortals and magic ( or magick as it's spelled in the book. ) Here is the synopsis:

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.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe--until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

Now. That last part is kind of false in my mind. While reading the story, I felt that Nastasya didn't dwell too much on the fact that someone wanted her dead. She had enough crap on her plate and quite frankly, it didn't appear that she would care if she were to die. Being immortal seems to do somethings to you, let this novel tell you. She kind of just went, 'well, damn' and worried about her other problems.

I feel Cate Tiernan did an AMAZING job on this novel. I honestly didn't expect anything bad from her. Her Balefire series sits proudly on my bookshelf and her Sweep series proudly in my mind. She has a way of making you love every character, even the batshit crazy ones. 

This novel was humorous and heart breaking. You just felt so much for Nastasya couldn't help but love her. The writing was fast paced but rich, sending images and creating scenes in my mind. I would most definitely recommend! And to all you disappointed in Evermore, here is your savior! 

Speaking of Nastasya, I just have to say she's probably my new favorite protagonist. ( WARNING: INCOHERENT GUSHING IN 3, 2, 1) All of her emotions were so... real. They were raw, and you could just connect with her. She freaked out about things like a normal person would. She had so much trouble figuring out herself, and I did too, because she was such of a real person to me. Nastasya one of those people that hate themselves so much to a point where you can't help but love them, can't help but want to just give them a hug. Her sense of self is so skewed. She's scarred and traumatized and basically just a frightened person trying to find a place she doesn't have to be scared anymore.

But Nastasya had a whole other side to her as well. She was funny and snappy. Some of her comments had me laughing so hard. And the way she viewed Reyn was fabulous. She gave him so many hilarious nicknames in her head, I couldn't take it. I thought it was heart warming to see how she took care of the two mortal girls in town, no matter how much she seemed unwilling or not interested.

There really wasn't a plot to this book. While that might seem bad, it really wasn't. I think the entire novel is set up for everything to happen in the next two books.

I give this amazing novel 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you guys for reading!

Ta-Ta for now!

Late Night Sick Ramblings and Mini Reviews

Hey guys, Sammi here!

So today I just wanted to make a post, basically just to keep you guys up to date on what's happening in my life. I've been sooo slacking in the reading department and I feel bad about it. But at least I have a good excuse today! I was super sick all day, throwing for the first time since I was 10. And to make it worse, I was losing my stuff out the south as well. I probably spent about 4 hours sleeping on my bathroom floor. And some of you must be thinking, "ew. TMI." but I'm just keeping it real with you guys. So due to my ahem, problem, reading was nearly impossible. I fell asleep probably 4 hours ago, and now I'm awake without any chance of falling asleep again. SO, what a better time to tell you what books I've been kinda reading a bit from here and there.

First off:

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and all that jazz. I've already submitted my review but I'll just sum up my thoughts. This book was really good! It was spooky with twists and turns everywhere. I still don't know how I feel about the main character, but I really liked most of the side characters. I won't be posting a synopsis for any of these books. (A+ for laziness.)

Next I reread parts of a book I fell in love with this summer:

Now. THIS BOOK. When I got this book over the summer, we were tenting at Indian River Inlet in Delaware and I spent all night reading this book with my stupid little pen light flashlight that gave me a headache. But it was worth it, as this book is AMAZING. It's a mixture of zombies, but cool like still alive superhuman zombies, and assassin-ish. I just found the book trailer online. Cue screaming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adUV6qZgZdQ The girl who plays Wren (178) is amazing and someone should just give her the part in the movie, if there is going to be one, like now.

The last book is a book I purchased on CyberMonday for like 5 dollars. It's insane:

So while I was searching this cover, I got sucked into all the fanart. WOO that'll rob you of time, they're so great. Anyways, I'm about 50 or so pages in and so far it's good. I'm not super pulled in yet, but that's probably because it's been so long since I read the previous one. I already know the outcome, tumblr, what are you going to do right? So that might be affecting my reading as well. This is the 4th book in Rick Riordan's Heros of Olympus series, so there's not much I can say without spoiling the series. I'm just super excited I got this for so cheap!

Well guys, if you even attempted to read this blog post, THANK YOU. I know it started out bad and just got worse but I felt the need to tell you guys where I've been and what I've been reading. I promise, my next blog post will be much better.

Ta-Ta for now!

Make Me A Match by Tori Brighton Review

Hey guys, Sammi here!

Ooh boy am I excited! I have had such a good-book reading stride and I feel super happy about that. It's probably all the branching out in genres that have happened recently. I've read Paranormal, New Adult, and some awesome Adult novels. I've always kinda been set in my YA ways, probably because I'm a young adult myself, haha! Anyways, today I have another book to share with you guys. It's a fairly recent book, no actually really recent, as it came out on Nov. 30th. And guess what? This book is .99 cents in ebook form until Dec. 4! I better tell you what it is!

It is:

This book is a YA Paranormal Romance. Here's the synopsis:

Teenager Emma Watts doesn’t believe in true love. After all, she’s worked for two years in her family’s PI business catching cheating husbands in the act. Then Owen Emerson arrives (while she’s in the middle of a stakeout, no less), claiming Emma has inherited a deceased aunt’s ability to supernaturally match soul mates. Emma wants nothing to do with her aunt’s powers, nor with the frustrating and perfectly handsome Owen Emerson. Too bad she’s stuck with both for the rest of her life. 

Owen Emerson is a Protector, a person fated to protect Matchmakers for eternity. A guy who does things by the book, Owen figures he’ll rationally explain to Emma her newfound abilities and they can have the professional relationship he had with her much older aunt. But as he soon finds out, Emma Watts is anything but professional. Fortunately, when she has her first vision matching two friends, she has no alternative but to believe Owen’s claims. But Owen isn’t the only one interested in Emma. When the supernatural world discovers how to exploit Emma’s matchmaking abilities for their own, she has no choice but to trust the man who holds her life, and her heart, in his hands. 

Doesn't that sound AWESOME? As soon as I saw this on NetGalley, I requested it, and then I went and got the sample so I could start reading immediately. I knew from the start that I would love it. I have since bought the ebook, but my original copy was provided by NetGalley.

So this book doesn't have a bunch of faults. It's action, angst, and hilarity packed. The main character is 17 year old Emma. She's feisty and sarcastic. Everything that happened, she had an opinion or a comment. She is basically an orphan, father dead and mother gone, run off with a man. All her and her sister have is their Grandmother, and she is a royal pain. So I guess that means Emma has a reason to be a little tough.

Owen is DREAMY. He's basically the guy every girl wants. He's protective, attractive, and hard to get. Their whole chemistry was fire. It was very back and forth between the two, which could be a bit of a fault as well. I loved their banter and how their relationship progressed.

The setting was awesome, as well as the plot. I've never read any story that relates back to Cupid. Cupid sired demigods? YES PLEASE. 

The only faults I found were that as sometimes the characters went too back and forth. Like a 180 in their line of thinking in three seconds. I kind of gave me mental whiplash.

I gave this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars.

I want to thank Tori for providing me with such an awesome story! And you readers for taking your time to view this!

Ta-Ta for now!

Wake by Lisa McMann Review And My NetGalley Dilemma

Hey guys, Sammi here!


So today I'm going to review a book I've reread many a times, a book in which I know my thoughts are in order about. This book is actually pretty 'old', published in 2008, and I have not heard much talk about it in the book community.

It is:

I'm pretty sure there have been a couple of cover changes to this book, but this is the cover of the book I own. I read these in about 2011, when I bought the whole trilogy at Borders (You can tell I bought these a while ago. Lol!) on a whim with a gift card. Of course being younger and not as eager in the whole 'reading-the-back' deal, I'm pretty sure I picked these up because I had seen my older sister with them. I can say for sure now, that it was probably the best thing I could have done. These books were my introduction to the YA genre. I would probably classify this book as a contemporary/ paranormal. 

This trilogy follows 17 year old Janie, a teen with an alcoholic mother who lives on the poor side of town, living off of her mother's welfare payments and Janie's job a nursing home. Janie has never met her father and isn't taken care of by her mother, who spends all day in her room drinking. She has always been an outsider, having to distance herself from other people due to her unique ability: Janie gets sucked into the dreams of sleeping people around her. She is pulled into dreams, basically collapsing where ever she is, and is forced to sit through another person's dreams inside her own head. This ability has taken a toll on her health and her social life. But when Janie is forced to watch a horrific nightmare of Caleb's, a boy who is assumed to be a pot head and drug dealer, she struggles with the feelings she begins to develop towards Caleb. Janie realizes that she wants to learn to control the dreams and even help the people whose dream she's in.

Even though it's a pretty length description, the book is not nearly as complicated as it seems. Lisa McMann has a beautiful way of writing that makes everything seem so simple, but so intense. She takes out all the lengthy descriptions of scenes, and manages to just keep the bones of the story, while still telling a rich, full one. This book kind of reminds me of those stories told in poems, with the choppiness she sometimes includes. Also, she puts in times, like 9:17 or 8:34, to help give you a better understanding. She also uses dates to introduce flashbacks or things that have happened previously in Janie's life.

The romance isn't instant in any sense and there are actually a lot of bumpy roads. The character Caleb is wonderful, a boy with his own problems, but his own fierceness. He's smart and witty, and an overall perfect match for Janie. The character development is very much based on the character's actions, so as the story progresses, you get a very good picture for what the characters are all about.

I definitely give this book a 5 out of 5 stars, and I plan on rereading this again very soon.

I feel like I got super monotone during the end, but thank you for reading this review!

Ta-Ta for now!

Immortal City by Scott Speer Review

Hey guys, Sammi here!

I read ANOTHER book in one day. More like 5 hours. And that book was:

Guys, I am on a good book roll right now. I LOVED this one! Instead of including the official synopsis, I have concocted one of my own. Here we go:

Maddy Montgomery lives in place obsessed with angels. Angel City is named after them, where angels are paid to protect the people who can afford to pay them. They are celebrities and have the ground they have walked on worshiped. Enter Jackson Godspeed, the hottest, dreamiest, and the soon to be youngest Guardian ever. The two meet, drama and romance ensues. And did I mention there seems to be a serial killer on the loose, killing angels? Oh, and Jackson just happens to be their next target.

So there you have it! This book is BRILLIANT. I've seen very mixed reviews on this book, some even as low as one star. I'm giving this book a solid 4.5. I've decided to include spoilers in this one, so the spoilers will be in blue.

To start with, I actually really liked Maddy. She was pretty badass in some scenes. I loved when she told off Vivian, and when she was driving that car to save Jacks. EEP.  The author tries to develop her as a shy girl, but she quickly loses that persona. Her romance with Jackson was pretty cute but also very whiplash-ish. How many times is she going to reject him? Her little 'condition' wasn't a big surprise to me. I was actually rooting for it to happen!

Now Jackson. OMG that boy. He was so cute at times and very uh, unannounced. Showing up in the library and her room? Kinda sweet but a bit creepy. He knew how to have fun, and he was very protective (pun intended)

One thing I found about the two was that I couldn't recall how they were described in appearance. All I remember is that Jackson was hot and Maddy had hair she only ever brushed. I actually didn't mind this, because I enjoy picturing them as I please.

I also really want to say one thing about Gwen. SHE IS US. She's a major fangirl, and knows everything the second it comes out. Loved her.

I found the world to be one of my favorite parts of the story. Angel City is a play on Los Angeles. There's lights, paparazzi, and shiny gold stars of fame. Angels are models and actors. The author gives us ordinary humans a peek into the glamours of the famous life.

The end of this book was awesome. As a lover of murder mysteries, I really enjoyed finding out who the murder was. HUGE PLOT TWIST.

One last thing, this book has some pretty gruesome bits. Blown off hands, chopped off wigs. Yuck. But they are very well written, so not to fear. 

This is it for the hidden spoiler part, I just have a few little spoils to discuss.

So if you have not read this book, Ta-Ta for now!

*SPOILERS*

I literally cringed when Ethan chopped Jackson's wing off. (cue gagging) I didn't think he would get it back, and then he'd have to be mortal. But I guess angels can do anything, because they put it back on. And when it looked like Maddy had died, AHH. But again ANGELS CAN DO ANYTHING. Like come back from watching your body from above. 

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Ta-Ta for now.

Alienated by Melissa Landers Review

Hey guys, Sammi here!

I read:

Boy, look at that cover! Since this is an ARC, I managed to get it from a family friend, my copy has a blue "THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED ADVANCE PROOF" (the shouting is implied) but I'm still drooling over the cover. 

Here is the synopsis: 

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

Can I just say how much I'm loving these spacey type books. I also recently read the across the Across the Universe series. AMAZING. Anyways, this story was quite enjoyable. It was funny and super interesting. Aelyx was a superb character. He was one of those sweet, sorta ditsy characters, but with a strong, smart core. A fault I found was that his 'other-worldliness" sorta wore off very quick and abruptly.

I had very mixed feelings about Cara. Only because I feel the red headed protagonists are getting old. Or maybe I've just been reading too many stories with them in it. You know, you can have originality in a character with out giving them the most bold features. BUT she was a very kick butt character. She didn't take bull from anyone and was sharp as a tack.

The L'eihr (How does one pernounce this?) was SO interesting. The way they lived reminded me of monks. Cara's mother was so cute when she tried her best to replicate they way he lived. The politics in this book were so interesting! Though the riots was have seemed dramatic, I could totally picture them in real life. Scary. 

Overall I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. Whenever you can get your hands on this book, do it. Just do it. 

Ta-Ta for now!

Samantha's Review Of Cinder

Hey guys, Sammi here, AGAIN!

So as you may know, I made a post yesterday about entering the Mac Teen Books Giveaway for an ARC of Cress. The rules were that I was to lend a friend a copy of Cinder and have them read and review the book. So I lent my fellow booklover, friend, and name sharer my copy. And she sure surprised me! Not only did she read the book in one night, but she even had her review ready! I think she's trying to see if she can borrow Cress if I win it. She has no reason to worry, there's no way I wouldn't let her read it! (That is if I even win a copy! Fingers crossed!) So here is her review of Cinder:

I really liked Cinder! I felt it was fast paced and awesome. I loved how it was based off of Cinderella and how she loses her foot instead of her shoe. My favorite character was Iko. Iko was such a cute addition and a great friend for Cinder. It's cool how the author gave her a unique personality. My least favorite character was her older stepsister. She really made me mad. When she ruined the gloves Kai had given Cinder, I wished that she had gotten the plague. Speaking of the plague, poor Peony! She was so sweet and nice to Cinder and then she got sick. I also loved how it didn't take place in America like most books. Kai was a great character as well. What's a fairytale retelling without a Prince? And a perfect one at that. And the setting was perfect too! China was such a great idea! The only thing I didn't get was why they said the names weird, but after I googled it, it all made sense. That's awesome how the author stayed true to the culture. Also, can I mention how cool all her cyborg features were? Imagine having the internet in your brain! And also being able to store tools in her body parts. I would keep food in there, if I were her. Overall I gave this book 5 stars. I loved the charaters, the plot, and the setting. The book had a great plot twist and great writing. I can't wait to get my hands on Scarlet. ~ Sam

 

So there you have it! WE HAVE CREATED ANOTHER FAN. YAY! She just sent me a text asking for Scarlet in homeroom a little bit ago. I'll keep you updated on how much she loves that book. (I'm positive she will!)

 

Ta-Ta for now!

The Samanthas and Cinder and The Resurection Of This Blog

Hey guys, Sammi here!

So I've decided to use this blog for real now! And you want to know why? Because today I am entering in the @macteenbooks Gift of Cinder Cress Giveaway! So basically the rules are:

1.       Loan a friend a copy of Cinder.
2.       Write a blog post explaining why you gave that friend a copy of Cinder.
3.       Have your friend review Cinder on his/her blog OR on your blog.
4.       Share the review online using the #GiftOfCinder hashtag!
5.       Leave the links for your blog post, review of Cinder, and social share

They're giving away 20 copies of Cress. 20 copies. Like holy freaking luna. (Not all to one person, not that I don't wish though. Sigh.) So I've decided to lend my precious, battered copy of Cinder to my friend Samantha. Yes you read that right, another Samantha. There's actually four in my shop at school! Though I doubt we were all named after a character in Bewitched ;). Anyways, I actually just lent it to her a few hours ago, literally waking her up and begging her to do this for me. I may have used candy as a bribe. But it was needed to tear her away from Allegiant for the weekend. So in compliance for rule 2, here is my reasons for picking my friend Sam to lend Cinder to:

1}Sam is about as big of a booknerd as I am. We spend most of our bus rides seated next to each other, not speaking, hunched over our books. And when we're not reading, we're talking about the books we've read. (We crack our selves up with book puns and inside book jokes)
 
2}Sam is a fast reader! I get massive anxiety/ frustration when I lend my books out because chances are you'll A) never get it back B) have it returned looking like it just went through several stampedes escaping from the plague. But I trust Sam with all my books, because she feels the same way about her books!

3} She NEEDS to read these books! I have my copy of Scarlet ready for school Monday morning when she comes in demanding more! I was horrified when I found out she hadn't read them, because I just assumed she had. This just further evidence for my motto that assumptions get you killed. Just saying. Sam really likes Young Adult books that are sci fi-ish/ fantasy, as do I, (Obviously :D) So I'm positive that she'll love The Lunar Chronicles!

So those are my reasons for choosing to lend my copy of Cinder to my friend Samantha for this giveaway! I'm hoping to have her review by tomorrow, or by Monday. I'll just have to keep pestering her to read!

Ta-Ta for now!