2014 Challenges Recap: How did I do?

Hello guys!

I am in a bit of a reading slump these days, even if I have a few really cool and interesting books started, I just cannot seem to hold my attention down to read them, or even find the motivation to get sucked into them... so I'm going to do a needed Challenges recap!

I joined a total of 5 challenges in 2014 and now it's time to see how well or how bad I did at them!

This is probably the challenge I failed more completely! I really haven't read many books from my TBR pile and I've kept on adding more and more! I am not signing up for this one again, because of my absolute failure and because I've already signed up for 4 2015 challenges!

I aimed for the First Kiss level (21-30 books) and I read a total of 10!! *hangs head in shame*

I joined the Classic YA & MG challenge later in the year, in June, but this one I've done rather well, I managed to read the 8 minimum of books to join the giveaway and I'll be joining again in 2015 because I love discovering books I missed in my tweens and also taking part in the monthly discussions of the #tmgreadalong

This one I almost failed because I started great, since I was in a BIG dystopian binge the first half of the year, but then after the summer I barely read any, got burned out a bit, but then in Nov and December I read the books I needed to reach the 24 books top level: Leader!

The Review Pile Reading Challenge was one that I thought I had failed but once I checked my GR list for it and my sign up post, I realized that I did much better than I was expecting! I had aimed for the Journeyman level (11-22 books) but I read over 40! So I ended up hitting the Adept level!

This one was a challenge that I was expecting to do very well, and I must say that I failed, maybe not completely and horribly badly, but I did fail! I completed some series that were not in my original list, and completed a few that were, but I did fail to complete 6 of the series I had in my list!! O_O


I have signed up for 4 challenges for 2015, and I might also join up the Dystopian challenge if Ula from Blog of Erised decides to do it again next year!

So guys, did you sign up for any challenges for 2014? How did you do? Are you signing up for any cool challenges for 2015? Tell me!!

Saturday Pages: Unremembered by Jessica Brody!!

Hello guys!

Saturday is here and I'm forfeiting sleep in the name of social life and spending time with my friends! But I also have an entry for Saturday Pages and this one is one that's been in my Kindle library for a while, so it counts for my 2014 TBR Pile Challenge!

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book events are not only a wonderful way of meeting authors you love but also a way to giving you a push to read books you've had a while but hadn't get to read yet. After attending the Fierce Reads event in NYC, I loved how Jessica Brody described her series so I started reading this one and bought the second book, the novella and preordered book 3!

Unremembered starts with a main character that doesn't know anything about her, doesn't remember anything except a year that is not the current one and she is found in the wreckage of a plane crash as the sole survivor.

It starts as a thriller with our girl unsure of everything and everyone, and the people around her aren't sure either. She ends up with a foster family while they try to find her own family, but as much as Violet as they call her try to find some comfort in normality, some weird things keep on happening and we keep on asking more and more questions about what's happening and why, and who is Violet really? And can we trust that guy who says he knows who she is and what's happening?

I am a big lover of science fiction and I loved how this one mixed the mystery and thriller bits with the science fiction that becomes more relevant the more you progress into the story! I loved that the romance was both absolutely central to the story but at the same time not what the book is about, if that makes sense. It's hard to explain without spoiling something!

The pacing seemed a bit slow at first cause we keep on getting more questions than answers but then it quickly picks up and once the book ends you are left wanting more!

Very well deserved 3.5 to 4 stars to this one. YAY for science fiction YA and book events!



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Friday Reads: The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston!!

Hello everyone and happy Friday! I hope your Friday will be a nice one and like myself, you can enjoy a weekend off (which might be a more rare treat for me than some of you, but it should always be enjoyed!).

I'm starting this week's Friday Reads with a review from one of the books that were on my "reading bag" that I packed for my weekend away at the cottage. This one released last year so it will be counted towards my goal in the 2014 TBR Pile challenge!

The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while and had to contact TBD when my paperback order got lost in the mail. But it finally arrived and on my unplugged weekend, I dived into the book!

It was a very fast read cause it held my attention and kept me turning page after page, wondering when would the other shoe drop and what the big mystery was. I had my suspicions about what was going on and was suspicious of a character and I ended up being right about both, even if I hadn't guess the exact details.

I had never read a book about the Witness Protection program (YA or otherwise) but I had seen movies or shows that had a references to it before, so I had a lil general idea of what it did. This book showed us what the toll on a person and on a family it can be, changing names, pretending to be someone else, feeling paranoid about your safety, and feeling like you can't ever feel like you belong anywhere because you might be taken from there and the life you build there in the middle of the night, without warning.

The book starts with one of such sudden moves, and with a girl we'll know as Meg from there on. She's with her little sister, and she's getting briefed about her new life and identity and where will they be starting life anew for who knows how long. Meg has stopped caring about thinking too much about her new name, she seems to be too tired and too scared of being trapped in the ever moving, ever changing identities and even worse, she doesn't even know why her family is in the Witness Protection program.

Meg was a really interesting character, she had decided that this time she would try to keep herself away from everyone to avoid attachments when she was next taken a way from this place and she was determined to find out what was the reason for her family to be in the Witness Protection program. We see her strugging with the persona she needs to project, with who she was before her family entered the program and who she is now, after all the moving and lying and changing. She felt responsible for her lil sister and how the program was affecting here, and how her parents were dealing with all the changes, in their own imperfect way. I loved how the book wasn't just focused on Meg, but we saw how everything affected the whole family and how strongly she cared for Teeny.

Then her best laid plans go awry when she meets Ethan, a boy in her new school that finds her intriguing and ends up battling down her barriers. I thought that he might have been a bit too insistent and cared too soon for her given how Meg tried to shut him off at first, but I loved how they interacted with each other, how he made Meg realized who she wanted to be, and how he also helped Teeny to come out of her shell. I quite liked how Meg and Ethan became a team and how he confronted her and called on her bullshit when it needed to be done.

I wasn't exactly surprised with the big reveals, as I said before since I suspected something on those lines, but I didn't mind at all cause I was really invested on Meg and her family and on Ethan and I had managed to fall in love with the people in that small Southern town and I was turning pages like there was no tomorrow! The ending was quite unexpected as well, and now I'm awaiting the sequel cause even if there is no real cliffhanger, there's enough set up for what I hope will be a very interesting sequel!

Very much deserving of 4 stars and a good addition to the contemporary/thriller YA list!



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Saturday Pages: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell!!!

Hello guys!

Today I'll be delivering my first Piwicakes order for a co-worker's bf's surprise birthday party, which means I stayed up late last night getting everything ready! So today I'm a bit on the sleepy side of life.

For this week's Saturday Pages review, I have a book is an adult contemporary that I absolutely adored! In case you are wondering what's so special about it... it's cause I don't read that much contemporary, even less adult contemporary! BUT it's a Rainbow Rowell book, and everything that woman writes I love, I think I want to read even her grocery lists!

Since this one was published in 2011, I'm also counting it towards my poor overlooked 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge!

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


You know how I always say that contemporary books are not usually my thing? And you know that I almost never read adult contemporary books? Well, clearly all of that doesn't apply to contemporary adult books written by Rainbow Rowell. Anything this woman writes I love, simple as that!

Attachments is not a new release, but it's a book that deserves as much praise as Fangirl or Eleanor & Park and that I feel has been largely overlooked. I'm hoping that will change as Ms Rowell's popularity continues to grow, because this is simply a fantastic book!

Lincoln has started working as part of the IT team as security guy, so he's the one that reads the flagged e-mails in a newspaper where employees have just recently got company e-mail accounts and access to the internet. It is a boring job, but he has just moved back to town, into her mother's house and he's trying to find his own way. He finds himself reading the flagged e-mails of Beth & Jennifer, that are using the company e-mail to talk about their lives and he doesn't send them a warning but instead continues reading their conversations.

It is a bit creepy, cause both girls consider them private conversations, but I can't really blame Lincoln. Beth and Jennifer are both witty and adorable, and through their e-mails you see their friendship and how they care for each other, with what they discuss and what they don't. We learn a lot about who they are through their e-mails and by the end of the book, I felt like Jennifer & Beth were old friends of mine already!

This book is not only about the romance, but it's also about all sorts of human relationships, friends, marriages, the relationship with your siblings, your parents, your friends. And finding the right equilibrium in all of them. Change is never easy for anyone and we're never sure what can trigger the change we might be afraid of that can end up being for the best.

I felt almost all the emotions with this book, I felt for awkward Lincoln, I was annoyed at the situation with his mother, but ended up feeling for her too. His sister was equal parts nosy and caring... and Beth and Jennifer? Those girls... I felt like I wish I could be part of their e-mail messages and chat with them all day! I laughed (out loud, a lot), I giggled, I swooned, I cried, I bawled and I felt awkward, I felt angry and I felt confused... and when I reached the last page of the book, it couldn't have been more perfect!

If you've read other books by Rainbow Rowell, you must read this one, and if you haven't read any books by her... start now! With this one for example! 5 well deserved stars (and maybe a few extra more!).



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Mark This Book Monday: Eon by Alison Goodman!!!

Hello guys! Welcome once again to a new Mark This Book Monday to start the week in the best way possible... with books!

The book I'm gonna be starting the week with was published quite a while back and had been in my TBR list for quite a while, but like all books that had been there a while, I didn't have it very present. Then after Debby from SnugglyOranges talked about reading it for her book club I thought that since I was in a total fantasy kick and this one had dragons... I just had to read it NOW!

This one finally counts towards my 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, that is actually the one that I've been doing rather worse at!

Eon by Alison Goodman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Eon was one of those books that had been in my TBR list for quite a while but for one reason or another I kept postponing it. But recently some bloggers had been highly recommending it again and I was very much in the mood to read fantasy, so I grabbed me a copy!

And am I happy that I did! This is an absolutely epic book with amazing world building, political plotting and amazing main and secondary characters. And did I mention that there are dragons?? Dragons!!

This is a fairly long book (it passes the 500 pages) but it never for a moment feels long! Once I started reading I didn't want to limit myself to a pair of chapters and wanted to continue reading. The world the author has created is captivating, full of its own mythology and rich in details that strangely enough never felt overwhelming. There were no descriptions or pieces of information or world building that felt like info dumping to me. I couldn't get enough of this world, its mythology or its details. It's based on China & Japan in ancient times, but I think they author spin it on her own way to create a world unique enough.

Eon is a fantastic character, drowning in fear and lies but always trying to find a way to survive. From having to hide who she is to embracing it, the journey is one full of tears, blood and strange chemicals. Deception has become her way of life since her master discovered her potential, and once it realizes (to an extent) she finds herself with more enemies that she could ever imagine. And the mysteries surrounding her are even more twisted that she could ever imagine.

There are a lot of secondary characters, and all of them quite well developed, even the villains aren't exactly black & white, Lord Ido being a rather complex character with quite a twist by the end of the book. My favourites have to be Lady Dela, Chart and Ryko. Each of this characters are not appreciated by their society, within varied degrees. Chart has severe physical deformities that make people think he's also equally deficient in his mental faculties, but nothing farther from the truth. Lady Dela is a Contraire with a body that doesn't match the soul and that chooses to live as a woman and despite being respected in the Palace by the Emperor's authority, behind closed doors the opinions of the court can differ. And Ryko is an elite soldier and an eunuch, and despite his military progress, his origins also count against him.

With this ragtag band of allies and very powerful enemies, Eon has to wade the political waters of an Empire with a sick Emperor and his brother that cannot wait to take the power for himself and the magical & also political waters of the Dragoneyes and their council. Magic is extremely important in this world, to keep the Empire running smoothly, the people safe and the Emperor unchallenged. But once alliances start mixing magic with politics, everything goes to hell in a handbasket!

Just... wow, I tumble myself into words with how fantastic this book is and I'm really not making it any justice! It's a brilliant book, go read it now! VERY MUCH DESERVED 5 STARS!





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Friday Reads: Insomnia by J.R. Johansson!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to yet again another edition of Friday Reads! This week's first entry is another recommendation by the quite awesome Alyssa from The Eater of Books, and one that had been on my TBR list for quite a while, and as such is part of my 2014 TBR Pile Challenge!

Insomnia by J.R. Johansson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a very interesting read! I had it in my TBR list for a while, and when I got approved for the sequel in NetGalley I knew it was the right quick to get to reading it already!

Insomnia is the story of Parker, a teenager that cannot sleep, he doesn't have his own dreams, he ends up inhabiting the dreams of whomever he made eye contact last. No sleep is taking a horrible physical toll on him, and a mental one too, since he hasn't told anyone around him for fear of being thought insane and sent to a padded room. It all changes when he meets a girl with different dreams, the kind of dreams that allow him to sleep for the first time in forever. But instead of things getting better for him, it all starts going downhill from there.

This book was fantastic at building the suspense and to make me feel all the creepy-ness in it! I could really feel for Parker and how he suffers, how torn he is about all his choices. His descent into certain degree on madness and obsession is written so well that you feel like you're going downwards with him!

The other characters were also great, I loved Finn as main sidekick/best friend/comic relief, he never felt like an add-on but always had a voice that served as a contrast of normalcy with Parker's increasing otherness. Mia was a great character, even if at first we aren't sure how important she'll really be. Addie is a bit of an odd one here, she's Finn's sister and Parker seems to have a crush on her, but we never really get to know her too much or feel for her much until the very end.

The mystery and the twists in the book were fantastic, but the one thing that annoyed me and that actually costed this book one star was the lack of answers we get. We only know what Parker has somewhat figured out about his "curse" or "ability" and although we suspect something bigger is at stake and we're even teased at and hinted at more answers coming we are not given any in this book, and that really irked me!

This was a very engaging book that kept absorbed and intrigued, turning page after page, and I give it well deserved 4 stars. I'm only annoyed at the lack of answers by the end of the book about the bigger picture! Hopefully I'll get some of them in the sequel!



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Saturday Pages: Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers!!!

Hey everyone!

This week I'm gonna start Saturday Pages with a sequel for a book that I loved and that I have to thank Alyssa from The Eater of Books for the recommendation of Grave Mercy, cause this sequel is fantastic and I'm now very much impatiently awaiting book 3!

I'm getting a bit of way into my 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, adding this book there, as well as to the 2014 Series Challenge!

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I loved Grave Mercy and it was a fantastic discovery that I have to thank Alyssa for (thanks girl!) and once I got back to reading the sequel, I think I managed to fall in love with this one even more!

Where Grave Mercy was our introduction to this rich world, one that is historical fiction at its core with a few touches of fantasy and a new mythology added. Dark Triumph continues more or less where Grave Mercy left us, even if the beginning is a different POV for scenes we already experienced in the first book.

Sybella was one of Ismae's convent sisters, and one that started extremely wild and unhappy but that ended up feeling like the convent was her home, the place to feel safe. But once she was deemed to be prepared to undertake missions in St. Mortain's name and will, she is sent back to d'Albret's household, the very same she wanted to run away from.

She has to deal with d'Albret who claims her parentage, and Sybella has no small number of issues with her family and with herself, doubting her faith on Mortain, her own intentions and character and fears if she is tainted by her d'Albret legacy. Despite all that, and despite the mission the abbess of St Mortain has entrusted her, Sybella's main focus is trying to kill d'Albret. But then she gets an assigment to rescue Beast (one of Duval's friends and main ally) from the dungeons, and in the process she ends up having to go with him to Rennes.

The plot in this one is more focused on the personal side, not so much on the bigger political issues going on. Since a big part of the book is about Sybella and Beast's journey to Rennes and how their relationship develops and Sybella starts seeing herself in a slight different way. Then once they reach Rennes, Beast joins the Duchess' council and we rejoin the bigger political picture.

Sybelle is such a complex and flawed character, I have to say that I might love her even more than I did Ismae! She has such a long journey to self acceptance and discover all through the book! But once we see her grow into the woman she's meant to be, it is a fantastic feeling to see this Sybella as a formidable enemy and an even more formidable ally and friend to have on your side!

Beast is quite the unusual love interest, since he isn't one of those stunning and striking heroes, but he simply seemed the right match for Sybelle. Their relationship stems from respect and admiration from each other's talents & character, and acceptance of each other's darkess. I really loved how it developed all through the book, and how unsure both of them were but how much power accepting it gave to them both.

I absolutely love the world building in these books, the fantasy aspects of the mythology are brilliant and the complexity of the historical plot weaved into the story is stunning. Full of details and with a fantastic pacing that never lets your attention waver from the story.

This was a fantastic sequel, with no hint of middle book syndrome whatsoever and very much deserving of 5 stars! Now I cannot wait for book 3!



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Mark This Book Monday: The Beautiful And The Cursed by Page Morgan!!

As the next and last entry on this week's Mark This Book Monday I have a book that was highly recommended by Alyssa from The Eater of Books and that is her 2 of 2 great recommendations to me so far.

It is also finally a book to be counted towards my 2014 TBR Pile challenge, that is one I haven't been doing too well this year! I really need to switch gears a bit and once I have my NG ratio up to 80% focus more on this one!

The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Beautiful & the Cursed was a book that I had seen around and felt quite curious about, but thought that it'd be too much romance so I had postponed checking it out. But that changed when I read Alyssa's review for it on her blog, and after that I went and bought it for my Kindle and started reading it right away. And boy am I glad that I did!

This book is historical fiction through and through with a strong gothic romance atmosphere and plenty of fantasy/paranormal elements here and there. As soon as I started reading I knew that I was in love with the writing and the dark and creepy feel of the book as well as with the historical setting.

The book starts with Ingrid arriving in Paris with her mother and her sister to a place that his brother had found for them, where their mother could finally start the art gallery she had wanted to work on for a long time. After an incident that the high society of London won't forget easily and that has ruined Ingrid's good standing there, Paris feels like a fresh start for them. But everything changes right on arrival, when they discover that Grayson is not there to welcome them, or anywhere to be found.

Something I really liked is that none of the ladies in this family are the ones to wait for things to be solved. The mother starts using whatever friends and influence she might have to try and find out what happened and involve the police. And Ingrid and Gabby start trying to find out by visiting bookstores trying to follow Grayson movements leading to his disappearance. And they stumble upon so much more than they could have ever imagined!

Demons walking the Paris streets and snatching girls, gargoyles that protect assigned humans and an organization of humans that fight against the demons and have an agreement of sorts to work with the gargoyles. All of that is more or less dumped on Ingrid and she even has to face a demon or two and finds herself falling for Luc, the gargoyle that is her protector. Gabby gets herself in plenty of trouble cause she's so fierce and headstrong, but she proves that she can hold her own.

The romance is present and it is quite a fantastic kind of romance... even if at first I wasn't entirely sure how it had changed from curiousity and protectiveness to attraction and amazing chemistry, but I quickly forgot about that and was swept away by Ingrid and Luc's forbidden romance! I also really enjoyed Gabby's banter and fiery romance with one of the Alliance members. Each one of the romances were so fitting to how different the sisters are.

The plot was paced slowly but surely, you kept on wanting to turn the pages but never felt like rushing through them because this is one book to be savoured! I loved the writing and the characters and there were hints and pieces of the bigger picture scattered all over the pages. I wasn't really expecting some of the revelations we got by the end of the book, but in the end everything made sense and was open enough to what's to come in the next book(s). I wasn't very happy about what Luc decided to do by the end, even if I could understand his choice... still is painful and horrible and even opens a door to possible love triangle and I don't like it!

A fantastic read for sure, well deserving of 4 to 4.5 stars and now I cannot wait for book 2!



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Saturday Pages: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn!!

For this week's final entry for Saturday Pages I have a book I had wanted to read since I read the very intriguing synopsis and heard the ladies at Tea Time rave about it!

As such, this is one of the books that are part of the challenge I'm doing worse so far this year, the 2014 TBR Pile Reading challenge! I'm hoping I'll manage to read a few more books once I get my ARC pile under control!

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I started Another Little Piece I wasn't sure what to expect, and for the first third of the book I was quite confused and bewildered, but had no idea if I liked the book or not. I decided to stick with it, and it was a great choice!

This is a very hard book to review and describe without accidentally spoiling something, because the plot progresses but with so many backs and forth and so very few precious pieces of information, that a big part of the charm of the book is piecing everything together on your own.

A word of warning, this is a VERY creepy and weird book and if you don't enjoy weird or creepy, this book is going to make you run in the opposite direction. But it is also a very compelling book, that raises a lot of questions about what makes us who we are? what would be risk or sacrifice for what we want? what price is too high to pay? how broken is too broken?

Annaliese is the girl that drives the narrative, even if she doesn't remember anything or isn't sure of who she is. This might seem like another amnesia plot but trust me, it isn't. Soon the mystery goes deeper, some unexpected paranormal bits keep on indruding here and there, and the plot gets darker and more unsettling, and keeps you turning page after pagem hoping for more pieces to the puzzle!

An entirely fascinating read, that started with a contemporary feel, then turned into a thriller with paranormal elements. The ending might leave you wondering a bit and hoping for more details, at least it did to me! but it was still a very satisfying read, a fantastic debut and I'm more happy than ever to have the author's next book preordered!

Very well deserved 4 stars for this one!



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Saturday Pages: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers!!!

Hello everyone! I'm starting this week's Saturday Pages with a series that I'm adding to my 2014 Series Challenge because it's ending this year but that it wasn't part of my original list for the challenge. The first two books had been in my TBR list for quite a while, so this one is also part of my 2014 TBR Pile challenge!

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I had heard quite some good things about this book, but after having Alyssa from The Eater of Books tell me how it was her favourite book of 2012 and continue to sing its praises, I decided to take a break from the ARC I was reading and take a peek at it. Big mistake! From the moment I read the tagline in the cover: "Why be a sheep, when you can be the worlf" I was well and truly hooked!

This is a wonderful fantasy with historical fiction touches book, with a world full of details, with its own mythology that reminded me a bit of Celtic mythology. The world building it's just stunning, full of layers of intrigue and politics and alliances and very much complex in the society created, even if based on the 15th century, it still feels wholly original!

One of the things that I truly adored about this book was how in a world so dismissive of women as any medieval society would be, here some women were trained and educated to protect themselves in a world ruled by men. They were trained and protected and given enough power to hold their own in a men's world.

Ismae is a survivor at heart, she survived attempts on her life before even being born and she survived scorn and hate after being born. When she's taken to the convent, she finds somewhere she can belong to and she can be appreciated, so she takes to the life of an assassin like a fish takes to swimming! Serving St Mortain as his Handmaiden requires a lot of training but Ismae seems to truly enjoy most of it, and she makes some great friends with some fellow novices, Sybella and Annith. I really liked Ismae, how she always tried to do what's right, how she ended up having to deal with learning who or what she should trust, her own judgement or the orders of those she owe obedience to.

I was wondering how much romance there would be in this book and sort of dreaded it, but I should have not worried. The romance was ideal, started from mistrust and confrontation, and little by little working together with a common objective, a certain trust is built and then it progresses to attraction and love. I loved how they become allies and comrades too!

The political intrigue was always very much part of the plot but was never boring, and I have to say I had my suspicions about the traitor but very much like Ismae, I wasn't too sure about motive.

I was very happy that the main plot point is resolved in this book and it is a story that can get closed on its own by the end of the book, but still I cannot wait to hopefully see more of both Ismae and Gavriel in the next books, and I very curious to see how the bigger plot of those will tie with the plot in this one!

An extremely satisfying and gripping read, very much deserving of 5 stars!



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Saturday Pages: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson!!

Starting this week's Saturday Pages I have a review of one of those books that I really wanted to read last year but kept postponing for two reasons: hype and then my physical copy was stolen by my SIL, so I couldn't read it till I returned to India in February for my vacation!

It's also part of two of my challenges, the 2014 TBR Pile challenge and the Dystopian Reading Challenge 2014!!

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had heard many great reviews for this book, many of them from bloggers that I trust and with a taste that helps me figure out if I'd like a book or not, but it was after Octavia from Read Sleep Repeat told me I just HAD to read it that I finally got to it during my vacation time!

I was quite intrigued by the premise of this book since having people with superpowers that are evil instead of the super heroes we are more used to.

As soon as the book started, I was hooked! We read about the beginnings of the reign of Steelheart in Chicago and the start of David's hate and revenge plot against him. Everything started when Calamity appeared in the sky, and some people started getting super powers and began abusing them left, right and center. They are known as the Epics.

David witnessed the death of his father at the hands of Steelheart, but he also witnessed his only weakness, so he spent all his time growing up amassing information about the Epics and about Steelheart and his system in Chicago. He's also being following the Reckoners, a group of humans that are fighting and taking down Epics, and that seem to very well be humanity's last fighting chance.

He manages his dream of joining the Reckoners and he starts learning how they work but also makes his own contributions to the team, with all his information and research. He somehow manages to make his personal vendetta the next mission for the Reckoners, even if some of the team members are not totally convinced. Everything will change if they can pull this off, cause taking out one of the most powerful Epics out there would be the lynchpin for a change on the status quo.

The world building is fantastic, even if we have many questions unanswered, but we know what the characters know, what it's know in this fractured world and that's something that makes it feel more real and genuine. I'm hoping we'll be getting a broader look at the bigger picture on the next books though.

David is a great character, even if he's to be too driven by revenge and doesn't even seem to realize he's too young to define his life just by one goal. He does a lot of growing up in this book, even if half the time he just makes it up as it goes. Which is both a blessing and a curse cause he can bluff his way out of almost any situation but also can compromise a mission by improvising too much.

The rest of the characters are also very well crafted and have much more to them that what we see in the surface, so much that we get a few big shocks and twists coming with some of them. And though I had suspected some, I only did maybe a page or two before it was revealed.

By the time we reach the end of the book we have a lot of our assumptions pretty shaken and we've gone through one hell of a ride. We are left just begging for me, even if we're not exactly left with a cliffhanger.

A brilliant read, full of action and food for thought. 4 to 4.5 stars!



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Friday Reads: Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor!!

This week's second Friday Reads is a book that's in two of my challenges for this year, the 2014 series challenge on Read Sleep Repeat and the 2014 TBR pile challenge on Bookish, and for that one it's also the Read-Along book for January!

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An absolutely amazing book! I have let this book settle in my mind for a while in the hope that time would allow me to write a more coherent review for this book, but I'm quite afraid that won't be as easy...

I loved this book, I really really loved this book, and read in January it's and will be one of my absolute favourite books of the whole year. I had been postponing reading it and now I feel like kicking myself for it, except that when I think the final book of this trilogy comes out this year, I think the wait was worth to save me long waits between books!

The first thing about this book that grabbed me from the first page was the writing. It is absolutely beautiful and can be lyrical and creepy and so vivid that you feel like you're walking the pages with the characters.

When I went into the book I wasn't very sure what the book was about, I had read a gorgeous novella "Night of Cake and Puppets" on the same world, but I didn't have a clue about what the plot was about, only that Karou could use a sort of magic & wishes. And wow... that is just but a grain of sand compared to what the book really packs! At some point I feared all would end up into a very trite Angels vs Demons rehash, but I should not have doubted Laini Taylor in the least because what she did was simply fantastic.

You really don't know what to expect page after page, and even though you get hints here and there, I must confess though I suspected quite a bit, I wasn't entirely sure I was right and some of the revelations did really manage to surprise me.

The book has two very distinct halves, one where we are introduced to the world, to Karou and her life and we get little glimpses of another world beyond ours, with the wishes, and Karou's blue hair and how she tries to be an art student in Prague and do the errands in search for teeth all over the world. Then winged Akiva appears and the game changes. We start getting some more flashbacks and the final part of the story is Karou trying to find what was really going on and finding out who or what she really is.

The character development was fantastic, I already was madly in love with Zuzana, the rabid fairy and Mik, the violing boy, but properly meeting Karou and going on this journey with her was fantastic and heartbreaking. Akiva was perfect kind of intriguing, dangerous, brooding and conflicted kind of character that Karou needed to push her along.

I just cannot say anymore without risking some spoilers and I don't wanna do that at all, this book is one that is going to be brilliant either way, but I feel that discovering every little nuance of it as it comes up will make it even better!

Now I must go and read the next book, even if it means I'll have the long 3 month wait till the final book comes out!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a fantastic book, one that I can't recommend enough and that deserves 5 stars (and a few more added to it!).



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Friday Reads: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon!!

Hello everyone! This week's Friday Reads is a book that was pushed (nicely) on me by some of my fellow bloggers, those whose opinion I always check before picking a book, and that was also in my TBR list since last year! So thank you to Kristen from My Friends Are Fiction and Maja from The Nocturnal Library for telling me I really HAD to read this one!

This book is also part of my 2014 TBR Pile challenge, so far I'm doing fairly decently on two of my 4 challenges! I really need to get cracking on the other two!

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I arrived a bit late to the phenomenon that The Bone Season was on 2013, but after two of my trusted bloggers highly recommeneded it (it was part of their fave books of 2013 lists) I decided that I just had to get it!

And clearly, I had been missing out. The Bone Season is one fantastic first book in a very promising series. I can also understand how the pacing and the world building can seem slow for some people, but since I tend to gobble up all the information and world building than authors would throw at me, I never really minded all the explanations I got.

This world really is a different one, with a heavy focus on the paranormal because it is what defines it. There are people with gifts that are the clairvoyants and people without them, and the later are the ones in charge. Being a voyant is a danger and unless you belong with one of the syndicates of organized crime, you risk death or imprisonment. The syndicates aren't exactly a walk in the part either, but they keep the voyants safe from the government (the Scion).

Paige Mahoney is one of those voyants part of a syndicate, she's one of the Seven Dials and is called the Pale Dreamer. Her boss treats her like a comodity and a treasure both, but she feels like she belongs there. That changes the night she's captured for trying to escape detection via the Scion police and when she discovers that her gift, dreamwalking, can be used as a weapon too.

She's taken to Sheol I, previously known as Oxford, a prison city for voyants ruled by a race of non-human beings called the Rephaim. She ends up being under the care & training of Warden, the consort of the Rephaite ruler.

The details about past and present, with memories from Paige, the vivid descriptions of how London is in this new world and how Sheol I works, all makes up a fantastic world that you just can't wait to get more details about. About the Rephaim, about how the Scion came to power, about the different types of voyants... And everything with a writing that you can enjoy reading!

There's a lot of depth to the characters we encounter in this pages, not only the main ones, but also all the secondary ones. There is so much richness of detail to all the different relationships, from alliances, to mistrust, to unrequited love.

Paige is a fantastic heroine, determined and a survivor, with a headstrong tendency that gets her to never give up and never surrender even when facing unknown dangers and not-so-good odds. She is a fighter, but she also has a lot of compassion and that is what rounds her up so well.

Warden is a very enigmatic character at first, with quite unclear motives, and I felt that my attitude towards him took a very similar path to the one that Paige followed, even if I think I found myself hoping Paige trusted him earlier than she did.

Their relationship progresses in a very slow and quite realistic way. From mistrust and certain hatred, to a tentative truce and collaboration, to trust and acknowledgement of mutual attraction. I really liked how the interactions between these two started to change and progress and seeing them become allies.

This book wraps up one storyline, but leaves so many open doors and unanswered questions, and such a long fight ahead. That ending really did tug at some heartstrings, and I cannot wait to see what the next book will bring!

It was an excellent debut and first book, some of the unanswered questions that we got hinted at bothered me, cause it felt a bit like left too obviously hanging till the next book. Still, I cannot wait to read more about this world and these characters. A bit undecided between 4 and 4.5 stars, but I'd definitely recommend everyone to read this one!




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Mark This Book Monday: Review of Solstice by P.J. Hoover!

Even if it's a bit later than usual, I have a review up for this week's Mark This Book Monday, and it is the first book read for the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge!

This copy of Solstice I won in a giveaway, it was US only but they allowed you providing a US address even if you didn't live there, so I asked my sis-in-law if she didn't mind getting the book shipped to her, and she agreed. The book was sent to her, then the bf's mom brought it along to her to India since I was gonna be visiting in Delhi in October. So Solstice has taken a nice trip, from US to India to Spain!


Solstice by P.J. Hoover

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I won Solstice a while back on a giveaway, and after a few thousands of miles, we finally made it back to Spain in November. It sounds very intriguing with the combination of Greek mythology and dystopian aspects, even if now that I'm done it's can't be defined as dystopian, but purely a different rework of Greek myths.

Piper lives in Austin with her overprotective mom, and boy when I say overprotective I mean insanely so. The world has changed in the last 18 years and it's like climate change on steroids. Massive heat with life dying left, right and centre. Piper has been too sheltered all her life and she is ready to rebel, like any other teenager but in her case from an even more extreme situation.

At first that's what it seemed, a dystopian setting, a teenager trying to rebel against her mother's oppresive care, with a best friend that supports the rebelling, and two guys vying for her attention. And there were the signs of the dreaded love triangle. It wasn't too bad since it was understandable that she wanted to meet and date the guys since she was attracted to both but somehow Piper's behaviour had me shaking my head, she didn't seem to be rebelling as much as being too naive!

It all changed for the better when the Greek myths started to become apparent, and given that I am a huge fan of Greek mythology I really enjoyed it! I of course slapped myself for not seeing before what was quite obvious from the beginning, but of course I guessed it way before Piper herself did. Still I couldn't wait to see how everything would tie with the original myths once Piper figured out things.

Piper did grow into herself during the book, quite literally. And despite some times I shook my head at her early attitude, I really liked how she was hellbent on making her own choices and not having other people made them for her.

Despite a bit of rocky beginning, I ended up enjoying this book, and reading a stand alone is always a nice change of pace, with a story wrapped up in full. 3.5 stars.



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2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge!!

Yep, I am indeed joining yet another challenge!! This one will be a breeze in all probability since it'll overlap with my other two challenges for next year: the Dystopian reads and the Series Challenge.

What is the 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge? Well, it is a challenge to help us tackle our TBR pile of books we've got and still haven't got around to read yet. And yep, I have a lot of those! For this challenge only books relased in 2013 or before count, so no new releases in 2014. If you want to learn more about and join in, check out the info in the blog post at Bookish!

There are a few levels to aim for and I'm gonna start myself easy and not add any pressure, but depending on how I do I might aim higher. But for now I'm gonna go for the First Kiss level of between 21 to 30 books.




There will also be giveaways and mini-challenges to keep it more entertaining and fun, so I'm really looking forward to this challenge!