How to 'Read' Someone Reading

Book Cuteness

Nonsense!

Stacking The Shelves #45

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From the Better World Books:

Betsy the Vampire Queen (books 1-3)

Betsy, Bride of the Vampire (books 4-5 + short stories)

I replaced my itty bitty paperbacks for these lovely hardcover omnibus editions.

Aren't they GORGEOUS???

I just love this author. XD

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What did you get this week?

Early Review: If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

If You Find Me
by Emily Murdoch

There are some things you can’t leave behind…

A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother disappears for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won’t let her go… a dark past that hides many a secret, including the reason Jenessa hasn’t spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

Publication Date: March 26th, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Format: eARC, 256 pages 

Series: no

Source: Netgalley

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My Review

I have to admit that I chose to read this book because I saw somewhere that it was a survival story. And it was. But not in the sense I thought it would be. I expected to see people having to fend for themselves in the middle of the woods, all Hunger Games-like or something... but it was a different kind of survival. A much sadder and realistic one. Two girls had to survive their own mother and the terrible things she did to them. All the things she let others do to them.

Carey raised her little sister by herself, because she learned a long time ago not to count on her bipolar/meth-addict mother. A mother who only cared about making enough money for drugs, a woman who could not be bothered to bring food home for her children, or clothes, or even NOT bring strange, disgusting men over to rape her 7 year-old (until she finally got her period at 13) for pocket change to buy drugs.

Carey is, not surprisingly, extremely mature for her 14 years-old. She would do anything to protect her baby sister, Jenessa. So when a woman from Social Services and a strange man (who looks somewhat familiar) show up in the middle of the forest looking for them, she's ready to fight. But there's nothing she can do. If she wants to keep her sister close, she has to live with this man. Her father. The one her mother said was the reason they had to run away years ago.

Now the two sisters have to learn how to live with the comforts and novelties of modern life. Clean, comfortable, warm clothes. A nice place to sleep. Food whenever they're hungry. Running water. This is all heaven for them, but this new life won't be easy. There's a stepmother involved. Oh, and a very jealous stepsister. And let's not forget about high school. And boys. If only Carey didn't have so much to hide...

This was such a sad, sad book. I loved the way it was narrated. I could almost hear Carey's voice, with her accent and all the missing g's and es's ('don't it?' 'runnin' '). It was such a melodic, dreamy, sad narration. It broke my heart from the start, because I just knew there was something bad to be discovered. 

I wanted to kill Carey's mother. What a freaking monster! How can someone do those things to her own children? Ok, I get it, she was sick AND on drugs, but seriously? Completely unacceptable. At the end of this book I found myself very mad with the opposite sex. I can't even begin to describe how satifying it was to me to read what she did to that rapist. 

Anyway... it was very heart-warming to see them adapt to their new, love-filled life. If anyone deserved it, it was them. I loved this book. I really did. Even if Carey, a girl who lived in the woods ever since she as a child, without proper nutrients and hydration, with next to no protection from the elements, under constant stress and all, being described as 'OMG, the most amazingly beautiful girl ever, she should be on cover of magazines and movies'. That was completely unnecessary to the story and quite unrealistic, but I'm going to let that go. The rest of the book was terrific, so there you go.

*I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Read Fast

Oh, no! Where did the time go?

Great Book Titles

Stacking The Shelves #44

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From the Book Depository:

Soul Screamers Vol. 2
(I didn't LOVE it, but I enjoyed the first volume enough, and thought I'd give the rest of the series a try)

Unwind
(I am LITERALLY dying to read this. Ok, sure, not literally, but you get my drift. XD)

Freebie from Amazon:

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What did you get this week?

Review: Hunted by Cheryl Rainfield

Hunted
by Cheryl Rainfield

Caitlyn is a telepath in a world where having any Paranormal power is illegal. Caitlyn is on the run from government troopers, who can enslave, torture, or even kill her, or make her hunt other Paranormals. When Caitlyn settles down in a city, she falls for Alex, a Normal (someone without Paranormal powers), which is dangerous because he can turn her in. And she discovers renegade Paranormals who want to destroy all Normals. Caitlyn must decide whether she's going to stay in hiding to protect herself, or take a stand to save the world.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publication Date: December 15th 2011

Publisher: Westside Books

Format: e-book, 368 pages 

Series: yes

Source: the author

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My Review

"Sometimes humans are so inhumane."

Caitlyn is a telepath, or, as they are now called, a Para. Paras are in danger in this new fantastical world, meaning Cait and her mother have to constantly move to run away from the Paratroopers that are searching for them in order to enslave them. 

Caitlyn is tired of running, but she knows she can never trust or get too comfortable with the Normals in her new school because the majority of them are Para-Haters and could betray her in the blink of an eye. That only reinforces her decision to not become close to any of them... but this time things are different. There is a cute guy who really seems to like her, and a very nice girl who would make an excellent friend... but they are Normals, and Cait knows better than to trust Normals... doesn't she?

Or maybe this time the real danger lies in the person she trusts the most.

Hunted starts off with instant action, very fast-paced and intense. Things slow down a bit after that, but they pick up in the end. I liked how the author managed to show all the characters' problems, their feelings, explaining to us why they all made the decisions they did. It was very enlightening and made me feel somewhat closer to them.

I specially liked that Cait had a blog, Teen Para, and that she tried so hard to open people's eyes. Her water thing was very interesting as well, and Alex sure sounds hot in his bathing clothes. LOL. Which brings us to the romance part. In my opinion, it seemed to build up a bit too fast, but it was cute nonetheless.

However, I had some trouble accepting that the Normals would treat the Paras like that, with no apparent reason plain fear, even if it IS a very strong feeling. Also, I would like to have seen more of how the Paras were discovered, where their powers came from and all that. 

Oh, and this had nothing to do with the plot, but it made an impression on me and made me laugh internally every time: the use of the verb 'to finger'. I know it was meant in the sense of 'to point at', but I have a dirty mind and... well, you can probably guess what came to my mind everytime I read the phrase "he fingered us, she planned on fingering us" and so on... XD

Hunted was a pretty good book, but it was very different form what I'm used to seeing from Miss Reinfield. Maybe that's why I could't enjoy it as much as did 'Scars' and 'Parallel Visions', I just couldn't help but compare them.

If you like your paranormal fantasy with a lot of drama, then give Hunted a try. ;)

No Electricity Required

Maaaaybe a couple of candles for light, though. LOL.

White People Nearly Kissing

The people who decided on those covers/movie posters were very creative. Not. 
And there's also this one:

Yup.

That is one formula that really worked out, I guess. The covers are pretty. But I never read anything by him, so I wouldn't jnow if the stories are good. And I guess don't really care. XD

A sign at a Bookstore

Stacking The Shelves #43

Stacking The Shelves is all about the books we are adding to our shelves each week, sharing with you our excitement for our newest titles and maybe have you discover a new book in the process!

This new feature is hosted by Tynga from Tynga's Reviews.

This week I got:

From the Book Depository and Better World Books:

Haunting Violet 
(Thank you so much for this prize, Theresa!)

Breathe

Angelfall 
(Miss Renu, this one better be good. LOL)

A Blue So Dark

Freebies from Amazon:

 

Not sure if they are still free now, but i'ts worth checking. ;)

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What did you get this week?

Review: The River Knows by Amanda Quick

The River Knows
by Amanda Quick

The first kiss occurred in a dimly lit hallway on the upper floor of Elwin Hastings's grand house. Louisa never saw it coming....

Of course, Anthony Stalbridge couldn't possibly have had romantic intentions. The kiss was an act of desperation meant to distract the armed guard from catching the pair in a place they did not belong. After all, Louisa Bryce, in her dull maroon gown and gold-rimmed spectacles, was no man's idea of an alluring female. The only thing the two interlopers have in common is a passionate interest in the private affairs of Mr. Hastings-a prominent member of Society whom they both suspect of hiding terrible secrets. Now, brought together by their ruse, Anthony and Louisa are united in their efforts to find the truth.

Each has a reason for the quest. Anthony's fiancèe was said to have thrown herself into the Thames-but Anthony has his own suspicions. Louisa-whose own identity is shrouded in layers of mystery-is convinced that Hastings has a connection to a notorious brothel. When Anthony successfully cracks Hastings's hidden safe-and discovers incriminating evidence-it appears that both their instincts were correct.

Genre: Adult, Historical

Publication Date: April 24th 2007

Publisher: Putnam Adult

Format: hardcover, 368 pages 

Series: no

Source: Used book store

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My Review

Amanda Quick is the kind of hit-or-miss author for me. Either I love her stories from the very first page, or I just instantly know I won't be interested enough to finish it.

Thankfully, this one was a delight from beginning to end. Very much like Mischief was. When Quick gets it right, boy, she gets it VERY right. Her heroines are all so very independent, self-suficient and practical about things, they are very fresh sights for sore eyes in the middle of the sea of too-young and too-silly heroines we usually find in historical romances. No, her heroines are in their middle-twenties, they are generally alone in the world and just have to be clever enough to survive in a world where women are nothing without a man to stand beside them. Or in front of them. 

When women found themselves alone and without means during that time, they were expected to do anything, ANYTHING, mind you, be it becoming a governess, a companion or even a prostitute, anything BUT go into trade. And that was what our heroine did. At least in the beginning of the book. Before she killed a man who was trying to rape and kill her. After that she was forced to fake suicide, and sometime later managed to reapper in Society as a widow called Louisa. She also managed to attract the eye of gentleman Anthony Stalbridge. But that was not all she managed to attract... now there's a killer on the loose and what started with the investigation of a couple of crimes soon becomes three, then four... and, if she is not careful enough, her murder might be next on the list.

Quick's heroes are always very likeable as well. They are the first ones to notice how much they care about the heroines, and then have to convince them to be with them. It's most unusual and diverting. Yes, Quick is very good with influencing her readers to use new/more 'archaic' vocab. :P

I loved Anthony and Louisa and their misadventures. I could almost feel their chemistry, they were so good together. Too bad Miss Quick isn't much of a fan for steamy scenes, because they sure would have been great at one of those. LOL!!! Anthony's family were delightful as well. Very unconventional, like most of her characters. 

That is the perfect word to describe Quick's books: 'unconventional'. That and 'unexpected'.

If you like books like that with strong, proud heroines and amazing, heart-warming heroes, then Quick is the author for you.

'Melted' Bookcase

'Melted' bookcase inspired by the art of Salvador Dali.

The back cover of Tina Fey's book.

Now I have to buy it. ²

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #45

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey. 

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading?  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

It's been a while since the last time I posted this meme, so this one is going to be loaded! LOL.

I'm Currently Reading:


Finished in the last three weeks:

Last Reviews posted:
Review: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges
Review: The Ideal Wife by Mary Balogh

Review: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
Review: State of Emergency by Summer Lane
Review: A Breath of Magic by Teresa Medeiros

Next Reads:

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What are you reading this week?