Top Ten Tuesday - Buzz Words!

Today I am going to write my first Top Ten Tuesday post where essentially you pick ten things that go along with a certain topic, and it is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week the topic is the top ten words/topics that will make me pick up or buy a book, or essentially, buzz words. So this should be fun! 

1. Fairy Tales

I love fairy tales. I don't know why but whenever someone mentions them I get extremely excited and have to pick up that book no matter what. It's especially great when someone does a retelling of a fairy tale that's not so well known. One example : Blue Beard. Honestly you don't get any creepier than that, and I love creepy. I love it so much so when I heard about Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson I was SO excited. (Besides the fact that I've been putting it off for some reason unknown to me. Oops.) 

2. Science Fiction

Across the Universe, anybody? Ender's Game? These are some of my favorites and guess what, they're science fiction. (I think you can already guess how excited I was for Cinder by Marissa Meyer.) I think the fact that they're so entirely plausible is the reason I like them so much. Because, what will our world like in a hundred years? 

3. Travel/Foreign Countries 

Reading books set in other countries always makes me nostalgic for when I went overseas to Japan for the first time. Even though it was only last fall, I love reading about people's journey's across the ocean, Or even if they're just set in a different country than mine (cough, cough, The Infernal Devices). It's always so exotic and I recently read The Kite Runner for the first time which was a completely new and different experience for me but so, so worth it. 

4. Mystery 

In a word (or two), Sherlock Holmes. This is the bad boy that essentially led me to discover how good a mystery can really be if it's done right. I read and loved The Agency series by Y.S. Lee and fell in love with it. I'm sure there are a ton more that I am forgetting but my brain is failing me right now. 

5. The Ocean/Watery novels 

Okay this is sorta really vague but I recently read Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma, and a big part of it talked about this reservoir of water that was just so vast that it sorta ate everything in its path, and it was just so creepy and well written. I also read Wake by Amanda Hocking and Fathomless by Jackson Pearce which both take place near the ocean, and sort of talk about how deep and mysterious bodies of water can be. I just love the atmosphere of a mysterious lake or the wide open sea where anything can happen. I think I find it fascinating because we honestly don't know everything that lives down there and it's so interesting to see what different authors do with it. 

6. High Fantasy 

I really love it when a fantasy world is done right. One of my favorites being The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. Sadly I have not picked up the next book but when I am done with my book buying ban I KNOW I will be getting it. Another series that I want to get into is A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin but everybody knows who that is, so I don't think it realy needs a synopsis. Nope. 

7. Urban Fantasy 

I'm a sucker for a good urban fantasy, because they're usually so witty and fun. My favorite (which is also a fan favorite) is The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare but I like her other series (The Infernal Devices) better because it's set in 1800's London and that is my favorite place and time. I'm also extremely excited for the movie in august! 

8. Dystopian

Um, I don't think I really need to explain this one. The only reason I like dystopian is because sometimes world building (there's that phrase again.) One of my favorites is The Giver series by Lois Lowry (which I guess you could argue is a Utopian but if you read the whole series you'll know what I mean). 

9. Mythology 

I think this all started with the Percy Jackson series, honestly. Now whenever I see the word mythology i get all bouncy and excited like "I hope they do this well!"

10. Chicago 

Chicago is quite possibly my favorite city in the entire U.S. and it's really rare to find a book that's set there because they're usually either in New York or Los Angeles or some other big city but I think that Chicago is so full of life and history and when an author can portray that really well it always makes me happy. 

Okay, well those are my top ten for the week! I know some of them have more of a description than others but halfway through writing this post I got really distracted and just couldn't come up with some. 

OH WAIT. I remembered one more that always makes me excited. Any book that is set during the civil rights movement is fascinating to me and some of my all time favorites are The Help and The Secret Life of Bees. 

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

This book. THIS BOOK. You guys I'm not going to lie, I probably would have finished this in one sitting if I hadn't had real life things to do. This book was so great, I'm serious.

At the end of last year, I was in a bit of a reading slump, and we all know that those are the worst thing that can happen to bibliophiles like me. All that changed in January though, thank god, I read 11 books last month, which is probably a record for me. I really want to get into book blogging this time though, even if I do have some pretty sporadic posts.

Anyways, this is and ACTUAL REVIEW guys. Like I said before, I could hardly put it down.
I'm going to break it down into parts and try to give a full overview of it.

Letsa go! (as mario would say)

I always love it when books are set in a foreign setting in modern times, and this book delivered. It's set in London during Julia's junior year trip. It's in first person (which I tend to be incredibly picky about), so we get to see it through her eyes. Morrill is excellent at taking us to London and giving us a tour of it without ever having to leave our own homes. A personal favorite part (warning : spoilers!) was when Jason and Julia are up in the London eye and he tells her about his childhood home, and how he's part British. Um, can I have him please? I kid, I kid. But seriously Jason was hilarious, and I actually laughed out loud when I was reading this book. I almost never have a physical reaction when I read, crying, laughing, or getting angry with it. So, kudos to you Lauren, for making me laugh.

I really loved the dynamic of Julia and Jason's relationship though, I had great fun reading their antics, and Julia's fear of geese made me really feel for her in a weirdo way. Jason (as mentioned above) was a complete clown, and it makes me wish that i knew people like him in real life. But he has a really sweet side to him that makes me just melt.

The secondary characters were great too, and even though Sarah and Evie weren't there all that much, you can tell that they cared for their friends (even if they didn't like Julia). Sarah was watching out for Jason the entire time and it made me really appreciate their friendship.

There was even a little mystery tied in! Not a scary/creepy kind, but the 'oops where is this going now kind,' that involved mysterious text messages every now and then, from Chris who she had met at a party in one of the first scenes at the novel. Morrill was good at keeping you in the dark along with Julia, which is hard to do, because some authors feel the need to just give you the info right at the beginning, and i cannot stand this. But not her, nope, she knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat.

In the end, I really loved it (i really don't know how to stop gushing, do i?). However, there was just something that was a little off-kilter, and i don't really know what it is yet, so I have to refrain from giving this a complete 5 stars. But never fear!

This is definitely 4-star material.
once more, kudos, Lauren Morrill, kudos. Thank you for writing such a lovely book.

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Alright then, how are you? It's been awhile since I've done an actual book review in awhile. Sure I've been reading a ton but I haven't actually had the time to sit down and think about one. This is a special book review though. Thanks to Fairy Tale Fortnight hosted by the ever awesome Misty from The Book Rat, I am getting my act together and writing some words. I think you all know by now that this is two weeks dedicated to all things Fairy Tales, and I am very happy that I am able to participate in it for the first time! I'm rambling though, and I think it's about time to get to the actual review. I mean that's why you all are here in the first place.

I read Entwined by Heather Dixon. My this was a lovely book, inside and out. I just love it when you're drawn to a cover and a book actually lives up to it. Ms. Dixon did a fantastic job recreating the Brothers' Grimm's classic tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, in which the sisters discover a magic passageway in their bedroom and dance at night in a magic pavilion shrouded in silver, kept by, well, Keeper.

Let's talk about the characters first. Azalea and her eleven other sisters(who are named alphabetically after flowers by their father the King). Even though there were so many I felt like I got to know them very well, or at least a glimpse a bit of their personalities at some point in the book, although the book focuses on the three eldest girls, Azalea(the eldest), Bramble(the second eldest), and Clover(the third eldest). You witnessed their relationships with each other and the others in the household and the world they lived in develop and grow. What I really liked about the sisters was the aspect of family. Something would happen to get them angry or upset with one another but they would always be able to grow stronger by forgiving and moving on. This also happened with their father(the King) and it was very endearing to see him try to make up to the girls, with however much difficulty, while they are in mourning after their mother's death. Even though this was a fantasy novel I thought it did a good job of addressing some of the issues we face in every day life(love, loss, family). Of course there were the other side characters which were just as nice, or bad, as the main girls. Minister Fairweller, Lord Bradford, Mr. Pudding, Mrs. Graybe, and of course the sadistic, creepy Mr. Keeper who kept the pavilion ready for the girls to dance in at night. My god that man was creepy. Sometimes with YA heroines, they're too daft or mesmerized by the bad guy's 'beauty' to do anything productive until the end of the book. Or not at all. Azalea did a good job of realizing it fairly early on in the novel which made me happy. Also these characters had plenty of flaws. One sister ate too much, another was extremely shy, another couldn't be bothered to put down her books, and I always love reading about characters with flaws because it makes me connect to every one of them, not just the main character, or a certain side character.

Let's talk about the plot next. I thought it was very original. There was magic in this novel yes, but it had loads of history to back it up, like explaining how Keeper was trapped in the walls of their decrepit palace that the girls lived in. Though we did not get a full history of their world, but snippets of facts and important people like the evil High King. I'm also not very fond of books about dancing because I feel like I can't see very well what's happening, but I thought that Ms. Dixon did a good job of describing the different moves and things that they did which, of course, was helpful because it was a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. I liked it that the side characters got a fairly big spotlight at different times in the plot, also. I was rarely ever bored, and I had a lot of those moments where I needed to know what happens next(which doesn't often happen because I'm rather picky with my books). I also liked that love took a backseat in this novel as more of a subplot, not overbearing the whole thing with it's ungodly stickiness that it can often have. Dixon treated it as more of a game than an actual plot line which was nice.

Over all I am going to give this 4/5 stars for quirky characters, brilliant descriptions, and a vivid imagination of the world she painted so well for us readers to be immersed in.

Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce

I just now realized that i haven't been doing this for the books I've reviewed like I said I would.

On to the review!

Okay, so this was one of the better YA genre novels that i have read in a long time. I had seen this in the bookstore awhile back, and thought it looked really interesting (little red riding hood is one of my all time favorite fairy tales). the concept sounded a little strange though so i put it off for a almost a year. and then  Pearce came out with Sweetly which is a retelling of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, and i was curious to see how she pulled it off. But we're focusing on Sisters Red in this review.

When Rosie and Scarlett March are attacked by a vicious werewolf when they were children, it scars them for life. Scarlett's eye gets taken and Rosie feels as though she owes her sister her life. So to make up for this, the sisters hunt. Scarlett is consumed by hunting the werewolves (Fenris, as they're called in Pearce's world), and she expects Rosie to hunt with her too, which she does.
The thing about Rosie though, is that she doesn't want to hunt, and she's in love with her childhood friend Silas, who comes from a long line of woodcutters. and that's basically where the story takes off.

There's a lot about this story that I do like, and surprisingly, very little that I didn't. It frankly was hard to choose which sister I liked the best. One minute it was Rosie, the next it was Scarlett, and so on. But in the end I ended up loving both of them. I feel like it was the most interesting to be in Scarlett's mind, how she was so focused on the hunting of Fenris that she doesn't want love or what we would call 'normal.' Pearce did such a good job transitioning between the two that I actually lost track of who was talking once or twice, until the end of the chapter.

I really liked the story arc as well, how she made a pack of ruthless werewolves seemingly right at home in her novel, and how Rosie was able to free herself from their clutches. Rosie's side of the story did get somewhat annoying, getting to be like a lot of the YA romance novels that are out there, but Pearce knew when it was getting dangerously mushy and pack the punch back in at the right time.

This is one of the first stories in a long time that I have been able to thoroughly enjoy from start to finish. Ms. Pearce has done an exceptional job at retelling this classic fairytale into something haunting and gruesome, but very exciting. I could not put it down. This definitely gets 5/5 stars from me, and you need to pick it up right now!

Until next time!

The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

Let me first start by saying that this book was not at all what i imagined it to be. i haven't yet decided if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but it was definitely interesting. let me start by giving you a short synopsis of the book.

Lucero-Elisa is the princess of Orovalle who bears the Godstone in her navel.
God has chosen her for a specific purpose, but she does not know what it is.
She goes on an 'epic journey' to find out.

This book is definitely high fantasy. It reminds me of books like Eragon or The Lord of the Rings.
The world this book is set in is highly religious, a concept which would have been difficult for me to grasp otherwise. Since it was set in a completely different time/world it was very believable, the prayers, the worship services that Carson chose to focus on. She did a good job of balancing those from the more depressing, thought provoking parts of the novel.

Let's talk about Lucero-Elisa. She's a very real girl. The way she thinks and reacts to the situations she finds herself in are similar to mine (except for praying every hour of the day. bleh). She eats to much. The thing that i really liked about this book was that Carson describes how she changes with her surroundings, how her body physically changes. She puts a knife to her stomach in order to get the Godstone out of her navel and bleeds. Bleeds. I don't think I've ever read a book where the heroine actually bleeds due to her own actions.

The other characters where somewhat distant though, even her nurse, Ximena was hard to decipher throughout the book. I think the one other character i liked besides Elisa was Cosme´, because you could watch her grow as well.

The plot was war. There's not really any other way to describe it, besides the 'animagus' which made me think of Harry Potter. Sirius Black, anyone? They were not animal shape shifters, but they were sorcerers. They weren't given enough time on page for me to be able to grasp the concept of them.

The ending was very clear too. I don't know if it was enough for me to want to buy the second book, but i'll definitely be looking for it. Rae Carson said that she 'goes global with the Godstone,' in a certain interview. i guess Elisa isn't quite done with herself.

i'm going to give The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson a 4/5 stars.

November Fail, December TBR

So you may all know that last month I only got around to reviewing one book... I seriously have to keep at this. Okay. So here's the deal. I have a YouTube channel and I'm going to put book hauls/review/etc. on there as well as on here. I won't be starting those until January, at midnight on the 1st of the year. Yay! But last month was a complete fail. I'm so sorry november! But let's move onto my TBR list for December. Some of the book have not arrived yet, since I ordered them from the internet.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

Unearthly - Cynthia Hand

Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce

Sweetly - Jackson Pearce

And that's it for December! I hope I'll have a video review for The Girl of Fire and Thorns by the end of the week.

The Water Wars - Cameron Stracher

it's time for my.... VERY FIRST BOOK REVIEW. YEAH! 

okay. down to business. i just finished The Water Wars today, and i'll give you a basic synopsis of its contents. 

the world basically has no drinking water left. a girl named vera is lives with her brother will, and her father and sick mother. when she meets kai, a driller's son, her entire world gets turned upside down with crazy corporate criminals, water pirates, and environmentalists. 

all in all, it was a fairly entertaining read. it was something new in the world of dystopians, which was nice. the only thing i didn't like, however, was that i didn't learn the girl's name until the middle of chapter two. i was trying to figure out who was narrating and even once i figured it out i was still slightly confused. the plot is pretty basic - friend gets kidnapped they have to go save him from dying. so, i enjoyed it. i also recommend it if you're looking for something more original than the hunger games, or twilight, or harry potter. all the stories you've probably already read. so, if you don't want to buy it, then go rent it from the library most definitely! i sure wish i had done that...