Wishlist Wednesday #4

Every Wednesday, Dani from Pen to Paper hosts a weekly blog hop, Wishlist Wednesday, in which you can list a book that you really want to read or that you have really been wanting to get. 

How to join:

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Pick a book from you wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves. 
• Do a post telling you readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post. 
• Visit other blogs and enjoy! 

Here's the pick for this week: 

Clockwork Princess

By: Cassandra Clare 

Synopsis: If the only way to save the world was to destroy what you loved most, would you do it? 

Passion. Power. Secrets. Enchantment. 

Danger closes in around the Shadowhunters in the final installment of the best selling Infernal Devices trilogy. 

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I first would like to say that I really hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas! 

I seriously cannot wait to get this book! I really enjoy Cassandra Clare's books, and I really cannot wait to find out what happens in this one! And look at that cover! Its absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to get it on my shelf! 

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Wishlist Wednesday #4

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

I was looking around for more blog hops to do, and  I came across this one, and I liked it! Its hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. This is where we can share the books that we've read last week and the books we are planing to read this week!

Last Week: 

5 Stars 

Last week I only read one book. I was in the middle of studying for my finals. That book was Cinder, and I absolutely loved it! Check out my review 

This Week:

This week, I'm currently reading Divergent, and I'm really enjoying it so far! I hope to get this finished this week, but it might be a little bit of a challenge due to the holidays. 

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It's Monday! What are You Reading?

Cinder--Review

Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 400

Synopsis: Humans and androids crows the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl...

Cinder, a gifted mechanic is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the centre of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

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Review: I had been wanting to read this novel for quite some time, but at the same time I was a little bit hesitant because I didn't think that I was going to enjoy it. I had also not read a novel before about cyborgs, which is initially why I thought I wasn't going to like it. I had only read about a chapter or so, and I was finding it a little bit difficult to get into. When it comes to reading, I'm a bit stubborn sometimes and  I really don't like to leave books unfinished, and boy am I glad that I kept pushing through this one. I absolutely loved it!

The whole idea of this story and the world that was created was wonderful and this modern retelling of Cinderella was quite enjoyable. The setting was great. Meyer spared no detail when describing New Beijing, which as it turns out is a really complex city. I also really enjoyed the way she had a majority of countries and continents to all be in an alliance, which has come together after a war. I think my favourite though would be the civilization that was she created on the Moon. .

The only issue that I had with this book, and it really wasn't a big one, was that I found some of the novel's twists were a bit too predictable it terms the secrets that were surrounding Cinder. Although this really didn't affect how I felt about the book and I still found it to be really entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. It was a really wonderful and exciting twist on a well known fairytale. I cannot wait for the second book!

Rating: *****

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Cinder--Review

Stacking the Shelves #2

This is a blog hop that is hosted by Tynas Reviews. I went shopping this weekend, and I only picked up two books. I have heard nothing but good things about both of these books so I decided to pick them up.

The first book that I picked up is Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It was through the booktube community that I heard about this book, and along with GoodReads. I had been wanting to pick this up for quite some time.

My local bookstore had one left in stock so I jumped on it, and I'm really looking forward to getting in to this book!

The second book that I picked up is Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi.

I only just recently heard about this book and it sounded like something that I would really enjoy. It also got pretty decent ratings and a lot of people seemed to really enjoy it, so I picked it up.

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Stacking the Shelves #2

The Diviners--Review

Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Children
Pages: 578

Synopsis: Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-tute-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie places! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfeld girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies". When a rash of occult-based murders come to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer-if he doesn't catch her first.
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Review: This was my second Libba Bray book. This is a book my sister had picked up one day at the bookstore, and I thought I would give it a go, and I'm so glad that I did! I managed to get through the 578 in almost no time, the storyline was wonderful and it keeps you reading. It didn't feel like almost 600 pages at all! As what I found with A Great and Terrible Beauty, I had not really read anything quite like this before. This book deals a lot with the occult, which I find really interested.

The story being set in New York City in 1926 is great! The 1920s are such an interesting time period, and Bray has done such a fantastic job in recreating it, it really felt as though the reader were part of it. As well, you can definitely tell that Bray did her research, and she did it well!

All of the characters were really well written, there really wasn't any that I wasn't too fond of. I especially enjoyed Evie's character. I loved her sense of humour, and I really enjoyed her whole attitude about everything. I found that her character really allowed for the reader to get a sense of the time period. Overall though, I found that all of the characters were really well developed and their backstories were all incorporated and gave so much more depth to the story.

There were a lot of plot twists in this book. I found myself a lot of the time really thinking about things and trying to figure out all of the twists the book had. There were also a number of plot elements that I did not see coming at all, which was great.

Overall I throughly enjoyed this book, and its something that I would definitely recommend, and its worth the read!

My Rating: *****

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The Diviners--Review

Wishlist Wednesday #3

Every Wednesday, Dani from Pen to Paper hosts a weekly blog hop, Wishlist Wednesday, in which you can list a book that you really want to read or that you have really been wanting to get. 

How to join:

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Pick a book from you wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves. 
• Do a post telling you readers about the book and why it's on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of her post.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://www.pentopaperblog.com) somewhere in your post. 
• Visit other blogs and enjoy! 

Here's the book for this week:

Anna and the French Kiss
By: Stephanie Perkins 

Synopsis: Anna can't wait for her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a good job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's not too thrilled when her father unexpectedly ships her off to boarding school in Paris-until she meets Etienne St.Clair, the perfect boy. The only problem? He's taken, and Anna might be too, if anything comes of her crush back home. Will a year of romantic near-misses end in the French kiss Anna awaits? 

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I have been wanting this book for a while. There were several times when I had the book in my hands, and ended up deciding on picking up something else. This book has been on my wishlist for quite a while now. 

I have heard and read so many lovely reviews about this book, and it just keeps making me want to pick this up more and more. With Christmas just around the corner, I think I will be picking this up sometime soon! 

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Wishlist Wednesday #3

Stacking the Shelves #1

This my first time using this blog hop. I really liked this idea and I thought that I would give a shot. TyngasReviews hosts this hop, where we can share the books that we have recently gotten and are adding to our shelves.

I was pretty excited about the books that I got this week, they are :

Easy by Tammara Webber 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor 

Before  I fall by Lauren Oliver 

I really looking forward to getting into all of these books! 

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Stacking the Shelves #1

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour--Review

Author:Morgan Matson
Publisher:Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages:352 

Synopsis: Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew--just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road--diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards--this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.
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Review: I had been wanting to read this book for quite some time. Let me just say I'm so glad that I finally got around to it! I'm not sure what it is about roadtrip novels, I think it has something to do with the fact that I would love to go on a roadtrip one day, but I definitely loved this one, and its safe to say that it is one of my favourite books. 

I really like that Amy's mother gave her a travel scrapbook, and that she made use of it. I think that made a lot of the places. I also liked that we were given a playlist of the songs that Amy and Roger listened to during their trip. 

Apart from the roadtrip aspect, I really loved the way that the story was written. We know that Amy is really struggling with her father's death and is having hard time dealing with it. I also liked the way that the story used flashbacks to give much more of a background to Amy's family and all of the tragedies and struggles that they have had to deal with. 

I especially enjoyed her relationship with Roger, and it was definitely not something that I was expecting to see from the beginning of the book. There is just something about Roger that made me fall in love with him. He's just a little bit nerdy, courteous and really loves history. When I first started this book, I will admit that I thought that there was going to be an instant romance that was sparked between Amy and Roger. I'm happy to say that it was not at all what I was expecting.

Overall, I LOVED this book. Its a fairly quick read. Its the perfect mix of grief and how to come to terms with it, but more importantly its about a growing friendship. 

Rating: 
***** 

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Amy and Roger's Epic Detour--Review