Showing posts with label samplers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label samplers. Show all posts

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Saturday Pages: ALL THE SAMPLERS!!

Hello there guys!!

Yesterday I absolutely enjoyed my first opera experience, getting goosebumps and nearly crying at the end, Madama Butterfly was fantastic! Now the besties and me are planning to go see Rigoletto next when the company plays it in Feb/March!

Today for this week's Saturday Pages I have mini reviews for all the samplers that I recently got from Netgalley! I know a lot of you guys don't like samplers but I seem to have zero self control when it comes to books I want, and also samplers are very useful when I'm curious about a book by a new author, or for a book that I should be more excited about since it's an author I love...



A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab


This one was simply lack of self control... AGOS is one of my top 3 most awaited sequels for 2016 and the moment I saw this sampler available on NetGalley I knew I had to read it.

It's quite a big sampler, and I'm already itching to re-read it, so I won't have a problem with re-reading the beginning once the book comes out!

Although I was 100% before now I'm 1000% sure that I'll absolutely love this book!! Our beloved Lila Bard is being her badass self, and even more badass that ever before! I just had to adore her & her restlessness and her wish & fear to belong and settle down.

We see that change has come to Red London, Grey London and White London, and whatever we thought we knew about the Antari is being challenged very early on! Or maybe I'm just reading too much into certain details... Who knows!

We meet a few new characters, although we barely get to know them, although Alucard gets a bit of more page time, and he promises to be a very interesting character indeed! There seems to be a certain history that will come into play later on, and I cannot wait to find out more!

Really guys, if you haven't read ADSOM, go read it now and if you have... go preorder AGOS NOW! If you already have it preordered, as I do... rest assured, we're gonna love this one to pieces, I KNOW IT!!



The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury


Jessica Khoury has a few books out already but for some reason I haven't read anything by her yet, so when I saw the sampler for this one (fantasy! Aladdin retelling!) I decided to check it out and see if it could be my kinda thing.

And as it happens, it is! I really enjoyed both the descriptions and the writing and loved how it starts and feels familiar (if you've watched the movie) but also how different it is, and not only because the genie, jinn in this case (let's be proper) is a girl, but also because of how much history is behind the current story. How much regret and guilt the jinni carries with her.

We meet quite a few characters that could be familiar but that are also complete different and with a very different history and development, from Aladdin himself, to the princess, to the Jinni... And I cannot wait to see more of these characters, and of course to get more of the world building and of the history snippets that Zahra gives us here and there.

The sampler gave us only a small peek at the plotting that might come into play in the book, from Zahra's mission to gain her freedom to Aladdin's quest to do something important, and where both might clash at some point and what choices will Zahra make this time!

This sampler convinced me that I want to check this book, so much that I ended preordering it!



Riders by Veronica Rossi


This is sampler that I requested because this is a book that by all usual standards I ought to be super excited about! It's by Veronica Rossi and I adored her Under The Never Sky series, and the book is a reimagining about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so really... it sounds like it'd be a Pili book! But for some strange reason I'm not that excited about it.

Reading the sampler I was a bit thrown off by how it starts in the middle of the action so to speak, and how our main character spends his time tied to a chair telling someone from the US government (and us of course) all that's been going on till that moment.

I don't usually mind that style of storytelling, but I'm not sure how I'd like if the whole book is gonna be told like that till the final part or something... At least all of the sampler is Gideon recounting what has happened. And although I want to find out more and meet the rest of the Horsemen and know what the hell happened to land Gideon in military custody... it feels like there's a lack of urgency since it's a recount of the past.

After reading this sampler I'm still unsure of this one, and will be awaiting reviews from my bloggy friends that got ARCs before deciding whether I get this one or pass it up.


Monday, July 13, 2015

Mark This Book Monday: All the samplers!: Dove Arising, Daughter of Deep Silence, The Heir, Ungodly!!

Happy Monday you guys!

This week is gonna be quite work-busy for me, and I still hope to manage to read a bit at night and hope that I won't have to juggle too many apartment related things...

And if only the damned heat wave went the F away! This heat is really killing my energy and my productivity!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I'm gonna have a special Samplers mini reviews, so I can finally get them off my NetGalley Shelf!



Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

This was a rather short sampler, but quite enough to give us a sense of the state of mind of Frances right as she is rescued from a shipwreck, dealing with survivor's guilt and having to face the fact that the other only survivors are lying about what happened in the cruise and how the ship was sunk.

I liked Frances' voice and just the first chapters were really intriguing, really left me wanting to read more. And for some strange reason the sampler also made me think of the Doctor Who Xmas Special about the space Titanic (Allons-y Alonzo!). I think the whole conspiracy feeling about a ship sinking making it look like an accident or lying about how it was an accident is the similar thread there.

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? Quite so!


Dove Arising by Karen Bao

This one was a slightly longer sampler, and one that showed how unique the voice of this novel is. Phaet doesn't speak out loud, much or nearly at all. That could have proved a challenge to relate or to connect with her, but given it was not like that at all. Being inside her head with the first person narrative was a treat!

I loved how she was determined to work hard and make the most of her intelligence and was aiming to do what she loved, but how she was even more determined to keep her family together.

The world building of the Moon as a colony and the society developed there felt like a mix of classic science fiction and classic dystopia, and one I really would love to read more about!

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? YES!


The Heir by Kiera Cass

I must confess that getting this sampler was a total guilty pleasure, because I read the three Selection books and enjoyed them, even if they were the fluffiest of fluff. I had decided not to give a flying f*ck about the next book because I felt it wasn't needed, but then I got curious and grabbed this sampler.

It is a fairly big sampler, with the first 10 chapters of the book. The writing is equally as easy to read and devour as the rest of the Selection books, but Eadlyn, our new main character and the daughter of Mer and Maxon, is not an easy to like character. She reads entitled and spoiled in a way that her brother doesn't, and when she makes a point of fighting for her independence and self reliance, it comes out more as a selfish tantrum.

There's a new Selection, one with a female as a chooser for the first time, so it's like a first edition of the Bachelorette. And maybe it should have read girl empowering, but since it was used as a distraction, it felt manipulative and even if that was not the intention, it read like "you need to find someone to love, or you'll never be happy" sort of attitude pushed onto Eadlyn.

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? Well, yes...
Will I buy the book and read it? Nope, I'll probably beg for spoilers to know what the hell happened though.


Ungodly by Kendare Blake

My most recent sampler grab and one that I had to read right away, even if reading a sampler from the last book of a trilogy you love is never really a good idea...

This one is also a BIG sampler, with the first ten chapters and quite a few answers and twists already happening!

After the very bloody and cruel ending of Mortal Gods, we see the fallout and what happened to our characters, meet a few interesting new characters (helloooo there Death!) and see Athena in a rather unexpected light and continue to feel like hugging and walloping Cassandra in the head! Neither Athena nor Cassandra are easy characters to love, but for some reason I give Athena more lenience and Cassandra ends up making me want to shake her a bit more, with her combination of hatred, naivete and deep knowledge at the same time...

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? HELL YEAH, EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY WANTED TO BEFORE!!


Sunday, June 15, 2014

Showcase Sunday #37!!


Showcase Sunday is a weekly feature hosted by Vicky of Books, Biscuits, and Tea where all book lovers can share with others what bookish goodness we got this week, be it purchased (physical or eBook), won, gifted or for review!

Sooooo, this week hasn't been exactly the best on terms of how I've been doing emotionally but it seems like Karma or the Universe decided to be kind to be and many many books have been dumped on me!! YAY FOR BOOKS! Two big orders from Book Outlet arrived this week (shipping is faster than I expected!!) and then I discovered this very morning that I have been approved for 5 books on Edelweiss by Harper Collins!! THEY NO LONGER HATE ME!! I really have to thank Alyssa from The Eater of Books for her advice on how to improve my profile and presence on EW to improve my chances of approval! I also got approved for a book I really wanted on NetGalley and got some awesome preorders and shopping spree on my Kindle app... books as retail therapy for the win!


Purchased (via Book Outlet)

As always, Dylan and Mini-maug are as excited as I am when I open a box full of books, and in this case, I got TWO!! A lil boo-boo was made when I ordered Thornhill before Hemlock, but that's been solved since Hemlock is also on its way to me now! And Asunder is also awaiting Incarnate on the mail. I loved Jodi's trilogy so much I need it in hardcover!



 Born of Illusion by Teri Brown
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
Asunder by Jodi Meadows
Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas



Thornhill by Kathleen Peacock
Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff



Purchased (via Kindle app)



Fire by Kristin Cashore



The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings



(Don't You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn



Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins



Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins



Poison Dance by Livia Blackburne



For Review (via Edelweiss)

I got approved for 5 titles that I was dying for on Edelweiss by Harper Collins so a big thank you to them! My reading schedule be damned, tonight I'll read Deliverance!



Empire of Shadows by Miriam Forster



Strange and Ever After by Susan Dennard



Deliverance by C.J. Redwine






In A Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis



For Review (via NetGalley)

I also got approved for a quite awaited book on NetGalley so thank you HMH!



Still Point by Katie Kacvinsky



Signed Swag!

I also got some absolutely amazing signed swag in the mail from M. G. Buehrlen! I adored her book The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare (so much I made some Ink & Batter cupcakes inspired on it) and I loved getting this super geeky swag, with a bookplate that is now making my copy a signed one and a super sweet note! Thank you so MUCH, Mandy!!






 And that's all for the amazing massive haul for this week! Whew!

What all did you guys get this week?