Twilight Re-read Along!

Ginger at Greads has had an exciting idea of having a re-read along with Twilight. I think the idea is fun, I know quite a few blogger who cite Twilight as the spark which ignited their love of YA novels, and I have read the book a number of times already.

To follow along with the participating blogs and read the chapter questions and subsequent answers you can check out all the details at Ginger's blog here.

This week's reading is chapters 1-5 with the comments and answers being posted at Lisa the Nerd's blog on Monday 4th July.

If you want to read along too, the chapter 1-5 questions are as follows -

1. Have you ever had to start over in a new place, like Bella did in Forks? This new place could be a school, job, or town... just something with a new setting. How easy or difficult was this for you?

2. Do you picture the actors from the movie as the characters in the book while you are reading?

3. What are your first thoughts on meeting Edward in Bella’s Biology class? At first he was annoyed by her presence, but then after a week away he returns & finds him self very interested in her. Do you think this helped or hindered the storyline?

4. Out of the secondary characters Bella meets at school, who is your favorite and why? (I am referring to the humans, not the vampires in this question)

5. There is a lot of dialogue between Edward and Bella in these first few chapters that I feel played a major role in developing their relationship. What are some of your favorite quotes? or moments?

 

Enjoy the re-read twihards!

 

 

Review: Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting

Title: Desires of the Dead
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 15th February 2011
Series: The Body Finder #2
Source: eBook

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.
Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.
As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Following on from The Body Finder, Violet is back in Desires of the Dead. This book starts off with Violet finding a body, and as we know she is unable to be at peace until the body has been laid to rest. The problem is that the body is in a place where Violet can't explain how she knows it is there. This brings in an interesting element of Violet having to deal with pestering federal agents. Oh the drama!!

I also liked the addition of some additional characters and the story line surrounding them. Eventually the story surrounding the Mike moves from the background to the foreground and I enjoyed the shift in focus. At various parts of the novel there are a few story lines intertwining themselves and keeping my interest peaked. A great story with an amazing ending!

I am happy to report that Kimberly Derting has delivered again with another enjoyable book which keeps you hooked and enjoying the story up to the thrilling last word. I can't wait to pick up the next in the series!

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we can show the books we are eagerly awaiting released.

Title: Spellbound
Author: Cara Lynn Shultz
Release Date: 21st June 2011


From Goodreads:
Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Conner, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.
But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.


I know this has technically already been released, but I just can't wait to get my hands on a copy! I am a total sucker for stories about star crossed lovers.

What are you waiting for today?

Changes!!

I have made a couple of changes to my blog (including making my own header!!). This is a first attempt for me at making my own header so let me know what you think!!

Emma x

Review: The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Title: The Iron Witch
Author: Karen Mahoney
Publisher: Flux
Published: 20th January 2011
Series: The Iron Witch #1

Source: Own Copy

Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

I managed to read through The Iron Witch in almost one sitting. I enjoyed being brought into the world Karen Mahoney created full of Faeries living in both our world and their own. I found this a very easy read, possibly aimed at a younger audience.

For me I think we quickly get to know Donna and her character. Quite early on we get an understanding of Donna, her iron "tattoos" and the unique abilities it brings. There are some secondary characters which are well written however could use a little more rounding and depth. Navin and Xan are interesting, but for me could use a little a little more rounding.

The main thread of the story, with the kidnapping of Navin, was a good idea. It also put Donna in some tricky situations where she had a seemingly impossible situation. In my opinion some of these tasks were accomplished a bit too easily which felt a little anti-climactic. I think this is a great book for a younger audience and I'm looking forward to reading the others in the series.

Review: Torment by Lauren Kate

Title: Torment
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Published: 28th September 2010
Series: Fallen #2
Source: Own Copy

Hell on earth. That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel. It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students -Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous. What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else? The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series . . . where love never dies.

I loved the first novel in this series and I was looking forward to picking up Torment to see what would happen after Fallen left off... Well I was in for something I was not expecting. To me this book was so far from the first novel it could have been from a completely different series.

Where Fallen was a book with a great atmosphere, set in a very prison like reform school in the oppressive heat of Georgia, the setting completely changed to a light and airy school in California. While both of these settings worked for the story being told I think I preferred the feel of the first book more. However the new school and location was a good opportunity for us to meet some new and interesting characters with some amazing powers.

In Fallen I also really liked Luce as a character, but I felt that in Torment she became very willful and would disregard what she had been advised to do. Hello, if an angel tells you not to leave the school grounds it is probably for a very good reason. To me this behaviour was very annoying and I had little sympathy for her hen she got herself, and others, in trouble. I would also have liked to seen more of the angels worked into the story and learned more about Daniel. But along with Luce, I still feel very in the dark about his character.

On the whole this book did not live up to my expectations and I felt I was mildly disappointed. However I did enjoy the ending of the book, bring on the army of angels please, and I would love to go straight back into the story line. From what I have heard the next book will be less about the present and more about Luce and Daniel's past lives. We will just have to wait and see what Lauren Kate brings us next! Oh and by the way I am totally team Cam!

Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 16th March 2010
Series: The Body Finder #1
Source: eBook

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.
Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.
Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

Violet has the unique ability to sense and find dead bodies. I am a big fan of another book series where the delightful Harper Conelly also has the ability to find dead bodies. Bearing this in mind Kimberly Derting had a lot to live up to. Well I am happy that she managed to exceed my expectations! The story is light and fresh but still has enough tension to keep the crime aspect of the story thrilling and exciting.

Violet's unique talent is sensing dead people, but can also sense the same imprint in whoever took the life. The imprint comes to her in a number of different ways, it can be visual, a taste, a smell or a sound. These imprints can be so strong that it makes it impossible for Violet to ignore once she has stumbled upon one. I really liked this aspect of the story and I thought it was well thought out, especially the people surrounding her in her life carrying the imprints of animals they killed hunting or by accident or any imprint which may be a bit more sinister.

There were a number of other characters in the book that i really liked. For one her uncle (The Police Chief) was a well written character and you could see that there was a special bond between him and Violet. Also I loved the character of Jay! Oh so sweet Jay. Why can we not all have a boy best friend who are so lovely and protective at the same time?

I raced through this book, however as I have spells where I can't get enough crime novels, I had a very good idea "whodunit" quite a while before the end. The way the book is written however meant that I was not frustrated about this and it did not bother me much or ruin my enjoyment of the story in any way. Ms Derting, I tip my imaginary hat to you!

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Published: June 3rd 2011

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Series: Stracrossed #1

Source: Own Copy on Kindle

Set on the island of Nantucket, STARCROSSED tells the tale of Helen Hamilton, a young woman whose destiny is forever altered when she meets Lucas Delos and tries to kill him in front of her entire high school. Which is terribly inconvenient, not only because Lucas is the most beautiful boy on the island, but also because Helen is so achingly shy she suffers physical pain whenever she is given too much attention. 
Making matters worse, Helen is beginning to suspect she’s going crazy. Whenever she’s near Lucas or any member of his family she sees the ghostly apparitions of three women weeping bloody tears, and suffers the burden of an intense and irrational hate. She soon learns that she and Lucas are destined to play the leading roles in a Greek tragedy that the Three Fates insist on repeating over and over again throughout history. Like her namesake, Helen of Troy, she’s destined to start a war by falling in love. But even though Lucas and Helen can see their own star-crossed destiny, they’re still powerfully attracted to each other. Will they give up their personal happiness for the greater good, or risk it all to be together?

Recently I had been having a bit of a reading slump. I won't go so far as to say I had lost interest, I was just having difficulty motivating myself to sit, read and enjoy it. Then this book came along...

I was excited even before starting it. I bought this shortly after midnight on the day of release and started reading it a couple of minutes later (I love my kindle!). This book was already a winner in my eyes, with Greek mythology and starcrossed lovers, I knew it would not take me long to read. I had read a few reviews which compared it to twilight. I could see the similarities, single father raising his daughter, a family full of beautiful teenagers with special gifts and the main characters struggling with their feelings for each other.

I liked the writing style and found it a very easy read. Written in the third person you are swept along with the story very quickly and there was some really well rounded secondary characters. Helen is a very quiet and shy girl who tries her hardest to keep herself under the radar. When the Delos Family move to her small sleepy island there are parts to Helen she can't help but keep hidden. Helen's talents start to grown and manifest within herself even if, in the past, she has ignored them or passed them off as something else.

The Delos family are special and I think that they were wonderfully written. Again as the reader you only get introduced to the abilities of this family bit at a time. For me the "slow reveal" is what keeps me reading. You are constantly being given tiny bits of information, like a nickname or a throw-away comment, from the family that keeps you wanting to read on and find out what they were referring to.

As far as the plot goes, It was well thought out with a good final challenge (as all these books have) which I felt was not rushed or glossed over. HOWEVER... there were tiny things which would be mentioned and it made me want to shake the characters and say "did you not just hear that? Are you stupid?" and a little plot twist that made me go "Seriously!! What!! No!! Yuck ewww...".

So overall I really enjoyed this book. There was enough Greek mythology sprinkled throughout to feed my love. Saying that it was not too much that I get bored reading about the past desperate to get back to the story in the present. I can't wait for the next books in the series to come out so that I can read them in one sitting too!!

Back from my black hole!

So, how've you been? 

I have dissapeared for the last few months as my work has this magical power to creep up and swallow my life! Well you will be pleased to know that I am back and in the next day or two I will be updating this blog with some shiney new reviews. 

As a taster of things to come the next review will be Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Catch up with you later party people!

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