Christmas Book Haul!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I know I certainly did and I am very grateful for my family and friends that made it great! So for Christmas I received a lot of books. Probably too many in my parent's opinion but in MY opinion you can never have enough books! So here is my Christmas book haul! Enjoy!

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell 

I've read both Fangirl and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and absolutely loved both of them. This book is an adult book rather than young adult like Rowell's previous books I've read by her but I know I'll love it anyway. I don't know much about the plot except the little blurb on goodreads but I do know it's a love story. Can't wait to read it!

My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

I know the holidays are mostly over but I could read a bunch of holiday short stories any day. Especially, when the authors of said stories include Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Forman, David Levithan, and a bunch of others! I'll probably start this as soon as I'm finished with the book I'm reading now! 

The Silence of Six by E.C. Myers

I've wanted to read this ever since I saw the trailer of the book, which you can see here. Usually, I never watch book trailers because they're cheesy most of the time and they make me not really want to read the book. But then I pick up the book anyway and realize the book is good and the trailer just sucked. HOWEVER, I was watching one of polandbananasbooks book haul videos and she mentioned this book and its trailer. So I looked it up and I was instantly pulled in. So go watch the trailer and then look up the book because you will instantly want to read it after seeing the trailer. I just hope the book lives up to the trailer because if not I will be very disappointed. The basic premise of the book is that it's about computer hacking and some other stuff. It's definitely a mystery/thriller that I can't wait to read.

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I have seen and heard nothing but amazing reviews of this book since it came out. I've never read anything by Jandy Nelson before. I purchased The Sky is Everywhere at a book sale in the summer but I still haven't gotten the chance to read it. I suppose I haven't been in the mood for a contemporary. However, I'll Give You the Sun sounds like a really interesting story that I am 100% sure that I will enjoy. It's a YA contemporary and I definitely will be reading it soon. Also I am obsessed with the cover of this book. 

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, and Sarah Rees Brennan

I can never get enough of the Cassandra Clare's shadowhunter world. People complain that she doesn't know how to write anything besides this world. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT? Her writing is fantastic and her stories are amazing. I haven't been this invested in a world like this since Harry Potter. This specific books chronicles the life of Magnus Bane through eleven short stories. I don't really know who are or what the stories are about except they involve Magnus. I really wanted the to surprise myself with who is in the stories. Some Herondales perhaps? Blackthorns? Lightwoods? I CAN'T WAIT.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

This is the newest book by Rainbow Rowell. It's another adult contemporary/romance that I'm sure I'll enjoy. It actually won the Goodreads Choice Award for best fiction this year. I'll be reading this soon!

The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport

This book just came out in June and I am so excited to read it. I've always been fascinated by the Russian Revolution and the turmoil that surrounded it. The daughters of Tsar Nicholas and Alexandra have always been interesting to me as well. This book also won the Goodreads Choice Award in best history and biography this year so it must be good!

American Presidents: A Dark History by Michael Kerrigan

I have always loved learning about the presidents. For some reason when I was little I was obsessed with them and for every christmas or birthday I'd receive a book or something that had to do with the U.S. Presidents. But soon that obsession faded and I got into different parts of history. Anyway, next semester I'll be taking a history class on U.S. Presidents and my mom thought it would be a good idea to get me this book to brush up on my facts. I already started reading it and can't believe some of the stuff I'm learning.

That's it! There is my Christmas book haul! I hope some of these books caught your attention! Happy Holidays friends! 

Review: Bleed Like Me

Title: Bleed Like Me
Author: C. Desir
Genre: YA Contemporary
Rating: ★★★★

I loved this book. While Bleed Like Me is another YA contemporary, it's different in that darker issues occur throughout the book. There is a romance but an unhealthy romance that circles around addiction and mental health problems. The main characters are Amelia Gannon (Gannon) and Michael Brooks (Brooks). The story is told in Gannon's point of view and the reader learns from the beginning that her life is in shambles. Gannon feels invisible in her life. Her parents focus lies on her three adopted brothers who have major discipline issues. She only has one friend, Ali, who is only her friend because they both have no one else. Gannon constantly feels alone and to deal with this she cuts. But then she meets Brooks and that's when everything changes. 


Does everything change for the better? No. Rather than be addicted to cutting, Gannon just becomes addicted to Brooks. And as time goes on Brooks becomes addicted to Gannon. However, in the beginning their relationship was ok to me, even cute in a way. While Brooks straight up told Gannon that he would not be able to fix her and her problems, he kind of did in a bit of a twisted way. The whole cutting thing with him cutting her kind of freaked me out a bit, I have to admit. I really liked Brooks up until that point. But that's when I realized that Brooks was totally incapable of helping Gannon because he really needed to help himself instead.


The second part of the book is when you really start to dislike Brooks because of how much he changes because of his time in juvie. Juvie had definitely broken Brooks and we see a different side of him that had been lying dormant in the beginning of the book. I'm still debating in my mind if Brooks really loved Gannon or he just loved her dependency on him. I want to believe that he loved Gannon but now I'm not so sure. At one point Gannon wants to go get food because she's hungry but Brooks makes a big deal out of it accusing her of not really loving him. He makes a big deal out of her wanting to leave and it just seemed ridiculous. But then you realize how dependent on Gannon he really is. While in he beginning of the story it seemed like Gannon was the weaker of the two, Brooks has now shown that he is the weakest. He is constantly paranoid that his father is going to come after him or that Gannon will leave him. Brooks is afraid to be alone and in the end this is what causes his episode at the end of the book. 


 

When reading this book the relationship between Sid and Nancy definitely comes to mind. Sid was the bassist in the band The Sex Pistols in the UK in the 1970s and Nancy was his girlfriend. They both were addicted to drugs, heroin being the biggest one. It was a relationship based on addiction essentially and in the end they both died because of it. I definitely recommend the film. While the relationship between Gannon and Brooks didn't exactly revolved around drugs it did revolve around addiction because of their addiction to each other. 

I really just cannot get this story out of my head. This happens a lot when I read darker contemporary stories. People usually ask me why in the world I would want to read a book about this topic, and most of the time I just tell them I find it interesting. At first I thought this book was going to be a bit like Willow by Julia Hoban, which I read a couple of years ago. Both books deal with mental health and the effects of cutting but they are totally completely different stories. I do recommend both books very much. However, if you are sensitive to darker issues that involve mental health and abuse it might not be the book for you.

Where have I been?

It's been a busy couple of months. As soon as midterms hit, school just became busier and busier and finding time to read became a problem for me. But this is just making excuses  for myself, which I do not want to do. Since it's winter break now, hopefully I can get on my game and update the blog and get some more reading done. I definitely know I'll be getting a lot of reading done this vacation! 

Anyway, I think I'll post some reviews of books that I read recently to get my head back in the game. So look out for those and some more blog posts!

Happy Holidays my friends! 

~Whitney

Review: Exquisite Captive

Title: Exquisite Captive

Series: The Dark Caravan Cycle

Author: Heather Demetrios

Rating: ★★★★

This was actually a really good read. I have never read a book about jinni before so this was definitely something new for me and I loved it. The beginning can be confusing because of all the different types of jinni and the different names that we learn about. However, I thought the author did an amazing job of slowly explaining the jinni world so that it wasn't too much information too fast, because it definitely is a lot of information to take in. The story is told in third person and follows a jinni named Nalia who has been sold as a slave by the Dark Caravan. Her "master" is a man named Malek who treats her like any master would, property. Nalia however isn't any old jinni she is Ghan Aisouri, the last of her kind. The Ghan Aisouri were looked at as the superior race in Arjinni (the jinni world) because they can wield every element. the other castes of jinni can only wield one type of element. Because of the amount of power the Ghan Aisouri had they used that to their advantage and eventually there was a coup that overthrew their reign in Arjinna. All of the Ghan Aisouri were killed, except Nalia who pretended she was dead and escaped Arjinna by trusting a man who happened to be a slave trader. Now she is forced to make wishes on Malek's behalf and watch as her master climbs to power. However, a boy named Raif enters the story who is the leader of the revolution in Arjinna  but is on Earth to find Nalia. He promises to free her from Malek's control in exchange for helping him gain access to an item that will help the revolution. 


Now I'll stop there with the non-spoilers. There will only be minor spoilers from here on. Overall, I really liked this book. I loved the characters, the narration, and just the whole story. Ok I'm just going to come out and say it, I really like Malek. I'M SORRY. I just get this Aaron Warner vibe from him that made me really like him and I want to know more about him. But the thing is I should hate him, Nalia hates him and for good reason, SHE'S HIS SLAVE. Still, Malek has made A LOT of mistakes with Nalia so I don't think a relationship will be able to form between the two of them. It seems Nalia's heart is set on Raif. Which is great, cool, whatever. BUT THAT IS TOTALLY INSTA-LOVE. And after we find out that Nalia actually killed Raif's best friend, I'm not sure a strong relationship can persevere through this. I have to root for Malek, I know it makes me a horrible person. But reminds so much of Warner from Shatter Me and even a little bit of the Darkling from Shadow and Bone. 


I probably gave this book for 4 stars because of Raif and Nalia. Raif just annoyed me. He was very back and forth. The parts where it was just him I couldn't stand because it was always about the revolution, and what he feels for Nalia is wrong and blah blah blah Also by the end of the book I was ready for it to be over. I liked the parts where the we see the Haran's perspective but soon they just became too much and I was ready for him and Nalia to meet. And then there was some stuff that was left unresolved, which I hope is picked up on in the next book. Like the all the stuff with Jordif and Sergei. 


I definitely would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy and all that. I really enjoyed it and can't wait for the next book. I loved Heather Demetrios' writing and now I'm going to see if I can pick up anything else she's written. Usually, third person makes it hard for me to connect to a book and the characters in but I really connected with this book. 

Review: Illusions of Fate

Title: Illusions of Fate
Author: Kiersten White
Rating: ★★★

So I just finished this book a couple of moments ago and usually I would wait to write my review so I could process the book. However, I feel like if I wait I'm just going to forget all of my thoughts. I'll begin by talking about the non-spoilery parts of the book. This is a stand- alone young adult fantasy novel. Let me repeat that, STAND ALONE. I unfortunately did not know that when I bought the book and thought it was going to be a series. I WAS WRONG. I'll talk about my thoughts about this later on. Anyway, the story takes place in the country of Albion where our narrator, Jessamin, is so that she can further her education. She is originally from another country called Melei. Although this is a fantasy world, the whole setting and time period remind me of Victorian England, which is my FAVORITE time period. I'm not sure if this was the time period that we were supposed to think of but I did. Anyway, Jessamin is quite homesick in Albion and is mainly focusing on her studies, until she meets Finn. Jessamin's soon swept up into this world of magic and plotting that soon gets her into trouble.


That's all I'm going to say for the non-spoiler section because now I really want to talk about the book. I really wanted to fall in love with this book and I thought I was going to! It just didn't click for me. I loved the writing style and the language that author used to put us in this time period but there was something missing. I really liked Jessamin and Finn but I feel like I couldn't connect with them. In my opinion, there was a lack of background information. Yes, we know that Jessamin is from Melei and that her father is an Albion man and she is blackmailing him to attend so school. And we know that Finn has these magical powers just like all the gentry in Albion society and that both of his parents died. AND WE KNOW Lord Downpike is after Finn's book of Hallion magic. We know all of these things but they just didn't connect with me. And if I didn't connect with the main characters, I certainly did not connect with the secondary characters like Eleanor, Ernest, or Ma'ati. OH and Kelen. Let's not forget about Kelen who all of a sudden happens to be Lord Downpike? Sure, that would have been a great plot twist if Kelen had been seen more than three very small instances that we see him in the book.

I think the reason why I didn't enjoy this book as much as others have is because it was so short and because it is a stand alone. The only stand alone books that I read fall into the category of contemporary. I have always avoided stand-alone fantasy novels. Why? Well this book is a great example of why. SO MUCH MORE COULD HAVE HAPPENED. There could have been more descriptions of the gentry class and their special powers, there could have been more backstory with the characters, and there could overall just be more excitement and adventure. I'm not going to lie, as I was reading the book was starting to remind me of The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare (which is an amazing trilogy, GO READ IT). I mean the type of magic was different as well as many aspects but the book was set up in a way where I thought something big was going to happen. In my opinion, nothing really big ever happened. There was no moment where I was like wow! or I can't believe that just happened! And I wanted one of those moments so badly as I was reading.

What really made this three stars for me was again the last pages of the books. Everything seemed just quickly tied together so that the book could just end. I will admit that I actually thought Finn was dead and was about to throw the book across the room when I realized he was still alive. That made me a bit happier. Anyway, the whole thing with Kelen being Downpike did not work for me at all. I mean it was really interesting but I wish we could have gotten a longer and more in depth explanation as to why Kelen did what he did. I know it was because the Albions tortured his mother but I wanted to go deeper into that whole situation. 

I feel like I'm being really picky with books lately. I think I'm going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow so hopefully I'll pick something up that will get me out of this reading funk! Thanks for reading my review!  

Update!

Hello friends! I know I haven't been posting on here as much as I was last week but this week has been kind of crazy! Midterms are upon us at my college and I've also been getting ready to go home this weekend! I don't think I'll be able to write up a Throwback Thursday book talk tonight but I definitely will write one up tomorrow once I'm home! Also my review of Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White will hopefully be up this weekend as well because I'm almost done with the book! It's actually really good so far. I didn't realize it was going to be a stand- alone book until after I started reading it, which made me a little upset. What can I say? I have an addiction to series!

Anyway, I hope your week is going well. Less stressful than mine I hope! My Modern Africa midterm is tomorrow morning and my mind can not handle any more information. I think it's at capacity. Well, there's my update! I'll be posting in this weekend, so stay tuned!

p.s. I will be making a trip to my Barnes and Noble when i get back home. The one up here at my school stinks so I'm really excited to go my home one!! :) I'll probably be picking up some of the books on my most anticipated books of October list!

~Whitney

Enemy Number One: Books.

I hated reading when I was a kid. Specifically, kindergarten through second grade books were my enemy. I hated reading so much that I refused to read out loud in class. When it was "Library Trip Day" I would immediately go sit in one of the special bean bag chairs in the back of the library so that I could avoid picking out my free reading book. And when the librarian found me (because she ALWAYS found me) I'd pick out a random book and pretend to read on the special "reading carpet" with the rest of my class. It's kind of sad now that I actually think about it.

It's not that I didn't know how to read, I just didn't know how to read well. When I was in first grade my teacher realized I wasn't reading and that I was having a tough time with it. And this led to me being put in the special reading group. Twice a week a woman who was retired teacher, whose name I cannot remember, would come into my first grade class during free time and gather all the kids who were having a tough time reading. They would always sit in the back of the classroom at a round table and practice reading. I was able to avoid being put in this group for some time but soon my fake reading caught up with me and I was placed in the reading group. I was so upset when I found out, I remember actually crying and being really sad about it. But being put into that group was probably the best thing that happened to me.

In the beginning, my goal was to be a difficult. In my mind, I didn't need to be put in this special group and I thought it was totally unfair that everyone else got to have free time while I had to sit through what I thought was torture. I can still remember the kids who were in this group with me, maybe there's some sort of bond there. Anyway, when the woman in charge of our group would pick on me to read, I refused. I would not read. Perhaps, this was me trying to rebel but looking back I was just being a brat. And soon the the teacher picked up on this and talked to me about it. She basically told me that I didn't have to enjoy reading but that I did need to know how to read because reading is everywhere in life. There was no way to escape it. I was also terribly shy and timid as a child so when she talked to me about this I couldn't help but cry because I thought I was in trouble. So after that I really tried in the reading group and would read and participate.

Then one day the teacher told me I had "graduated" from the reading group and I no longer had to join the group at free time. I was given a bookmark with cats on it for my achievement (even though I hated cats) and sent on my way. At first I was happy about this! I was able to have free time like all the other kids! But then I really missed the reading group and the kids in it. All I had was that generic cat bookmark to remind me of my group.

Once I finished first grade I still wasn't into reading. It was ok and I would read in class just fine but it just wasn't something that interested me. And then I found Harry Potter. And it all changed. I was in second grade when I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and it was the best thing that I had ever read. Forget  Arthur or the Berenstain Bears (although those are wonderful children books) Harry Potter is what made me love reading. So after I read the first book, I read the second, and then the third, and on and on. I even remember getting in trouble in class for reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while my teacher was teaching. I was addicted and it was a problem. Soon I was reading all sorts of books, another of my favorite series was the Nancy Drew books. I also loved comic books, mainly Archie comics.

I became addicted to reading all because of that special reading group. Because let's face it, if I was never put in that group I would have never picked up the first Harry Potter book. Before that group I HATED reading. And while I still didn't like it after the group, I wasn't totally against it.

So my friends this is my little story for you about how I got into reading. I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed writing it and the memories that it brought to my mind. How'd you get into reading? Let me know and here's a little throwback picture of me when I was in one my reading moods....I really don't think anything's changed....

Review: The Queen of Zombie Hearts

Rating: ★★★★

So I finished this book last night (ok actually early morning), and I have a few thoughts about it. This the third and I think final book in The White Rabbit Chronicles by Gena Showalter. The first book is called Alice in Zombieland and the second is Through the Zombie Glass. The basic premise of this series is that it's a play off of Alice in Wonderland but set in the present and deals with zombies. I've never read Alice in Wonderland but I know what it's about and I can say that these are completely different stories. Anyway, throughout the series Ali comes to know of the zombie slayer world, which she had previously had no knowledge of. She learns to fight from the slayers she meets, including Cole Holland. I would say this book has equal amounts of action and romance. It's a really great blend throughout the series. Now that's all I'm going  to say for the non-spoiler section! Now let's talk about the third book!

Ok so I'm going to assume that whoever's reading this review has already read The Queen of Zombie Hearts. So if you haven't stop reading this now! Or keep reading, just remember I warned you! Anyway, like I said before this is the last book in The White Rabbit Chronicles. I'm not entirely sure if this true because the ending did not satisfy me at all but I'll talk about that later on. The beginning of the book picks up where book two left off, Ali, Cole and the rest of their zombie slayer team are going about life, killing zombies, and basically waiting for the next attack from Anima Industries. The attack comes in the very beginning of the book, killing two of Ali's slayer friends and kidnapping two more. One of the friends that is kidnapped is Justin. The slayer's main goal throughout the book is to get Justin back and destroy Anima, however, some issues come up.

First of all, we find out that Ali isn't who we thought she was. Her real mother was a woman named, Helen, who worked for Anima Industries and was responsible for the death of Cole's mother. This whole situation just was really confusing to me because we learned all about it in this one book. Helen appears to Ali and gives her some of her powers. One of these powers is the power to make a person forget all of their memories. These "powers" just seemed really weird to me. I have no idea how that relates to zombies at all. Anyway, obviously the knowledge that Ali is the daughter of Cole's mother's killer put a bit of a strain on their relationship. However, it was quickly resolved, which kind of bothered me but I can deal with it. 

The one thing I really need to talk about is the last 100 pages of this book. Those pages are what made this book only 4 stars for me. One of the things that has been constant throughout this series are the visions that Cole and Ali have. In the second book, Through the Zombie Glass, they have a vision where Cole is carrying Ali and she is yelling at him asking him who he is and what's going on and stuff like that. Obviously, we can see that Ali is going to lose her memories. However, this vision did not come true in the second book. And then when we get into the this book Cole and Ali keep having this same vision over and over again. The vision gets more detailed but it's constant repetition that soon really started to bug me. When I was around page 350 I was getting really antsy about how this whole thing was going to play out because 100 pages was not enough to end this book. 

Ankh's house gets bombed. Of course. Ankh dies. And Kat dies. LET ME REPEAT THAT. KAT DIES. And now that I've had time to process it it does make sense. I really should have seen it coming because there was a little foreshadowing in the middle of the book that got me thinking. The whole thing with Frosty though is heartbreaking. While the book ends with Ali and Cole together, that can't be said for Kat and Frosty, leaving me with a really sad and unsatisfying feeling. I hope the author does some sort of spin off or at least a novella where we can see how Frosty is doing. 

Ok now let me back up a bit. So after the bombs and Kat dies, Ali decides to hand herself in to Anima because they are who she wants because of her "special" abilities." They do some tests on Ali and she of course fights back. But Rebecca Smith, the director of Anima, is able to wipe away Ali's memories and for 18 days she stays at Anima. The book skips for those 18 days to when Cole and the whole team show up to save Ali, woohoo right? Sure, but that seems just way too easy to me. How did they find the lab so easily? Throughout the ENTIRE book they were trying to find the lab where Justin was kept. Yes, I know that Ali released Justin when she got to the lab but HOW THE HECK WAS HE ABLE TO ESCAPE THE BUILDING? If there's supposed to be so much security and guards how on earth can one person, who is supposed to be really weak and all that, escape? It was too easy.

And then when Cole shows and up and finds Ali, he realizes that her memories have been wiped. And she apparently was told by Rebecca that slayers like him are evil but she just accepts it. There's really no hesitation at all until he grabs her and brings her back to their new safe house. And then rather quickly, her memories come back! NO NO NO ! Ali's memories were first wiped when she was six-years-old and those memories never really came back. So how on earth do these memories come back so quickly? 

I know what the author was trying to do. She was trying to give us a semi-happy ending. This is great but I felt like it was way too rushed. The first half the the book I would give 5 stars, the second half 3 stars. So I am going to settle and give this book a rating of 4 stars. Despite the problems I had with the ending, I really did love this series.