Friday Reads: The Reader's Lounge Book Club reads The Young Elites by Marie Lu!!

Hiya there guys!

Happy Friday! Just one more day till Halloween!! I hope you all have your costumes ready, some candy to hand out (and plenty to eat) or have plans to spend the day watching/reading some creepy movies/books!

I'm starting this week's Friday Reads with this month's book for The Reader's Lounge Book Club! I was quite excited when the book I had voted for got chosen for October and also glad that once I read it I had the sequel readily available!

The Young Elites by Marie Lu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had wanted to read The Young Elites since it was published last year because all my bloggy friends reviews were great but they also mentioned a bad cliffhanger, so I was determined to wait till the series was over to read it.

BUT that changed when it was chosen as October's book for my book club! I was excited because I had voted for it and also relieved because the sequel was coming out this month too. And boy am I glad of that! I will be reading The Rose Society ASAP because the ending for The Young Elites packs with the punch to the feels!! Cliffhanger alert!

Adelina is not your "usual" YA main character. She could be qualified more easily as a villain than a hero I guess, but she doesn't feel like an evil character, not purely and not one dimensionally either. Adelina was marked by the plage and has been shunned by everyone and mistreated by her father. It's no surprise that she finds herself fighting back in any way she can, and that her moral compass is more than a bit awry.

We meet a lot of morally grey characters. The Dagger Society members are fighting for themselves and their political agenda and also for the rest of the malfettos, even if they don't do it openly or fight for them all. Raffaele and Enzo are both leaders in their own way, with their own different powers and their own different ways to exert control and to wield power that was taken from them. Their relationship with Adelina is very interesting since both have different opinions of her and interact very differently.

There are three POVs in this book, Adelina in 1st person and Enzo and Teren in 3rd person. While this could have felt odd, it didn't, it adjusted quite well with how the story is Adelina's so that's why we follow her path more closely, and I love how we are privy to her mind's inner workings!

Teren is the main antagonist of our book, the High Inquisitor and that has dedicated his life to pursue, capture, torture and kill malfettos. He was also an extremely fascinating character, very creepy and disquieting with his extreme devotion to his cause and his self-hatred! And also his own quest for power.

I loved that the relationship between Adelina and her sister Violetta is so important in this book! They have a lot of love but also a lot of resentment between them, and despite Adelina always having felt second rate compared to her sister, she doesn't care what she has to do to keep her safe! Great to see how a familial relationship is as important or maybe even more than others like romantic ones in this book.

The book has a few lulls here and there while Adelina gets used to her new surroundings or gets trained and plans are made, but once the action picks up, this is a mind-blowing rollercoaster of powers used, fights, explosions, deaths, betrayals and more betrayals and more deaths!

And then you get to the epilogue that makes you even more excited and scared of what's to come in the next book! Very much deserved 4 stars to this one!



View all my reviews

Tell Me Tuesdays #29!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!


I almost forgot to post my Tell Me Tuesday post this week! I was so tired yesterday and then this morning I was so busy with the kitchen thing, I nearly forgot!!

Public Enemies by Ann Aguirre


In Book 2 of the Immortal Game trilogy, Edie must learn the rules of the game . . . and then play better than anyone else.

Through a Faustian bargain, Edie Kramer has been pulled into the dangerous world of the Immortal Game, where belief makes your nightmares real. Hungry for sport, fears-made-flesh are always raising the stakes. To them, human lives are less than nothing, just pieces on a board.

Because of her boyfriend Kian's sacrifice, she's operating under the mysterious Harbinger's aegis, but his patronage could prove as fatal as the opposition. Raw from deepest loss, she's terrified over the deal Kian made for her. Though her very public enemies keep sending foot soldiers--mercenary monsters committed to her destruction--she's not the one playing under a doom clock. Kian has six months...unless Edie can save him. And this is a game she can't bear to lose.

 Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

 Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.

Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette's desire to escape the shadow of her ballet star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever. When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.





Today I have a physical ARC that I got from the author's assistant and that might even count as my first ARC request ever, this one I'm only reading during the day because I fear how creepy the first book was and I think that Public Enemies will be even worse!

Then I've also started this month's book for the Reader's Lounge Book Club, and it's making me very happy I never got too serious about ballet! Oi!

And I'm also reading a 2016 ARC that I'm loving to pieces and that once I'm done I'll probably be pushing on every single one of you, but for now my lips are sealed!
  
So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!  

The Reader's Lounge Book Club February: The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark!

 Hello guys! This Thursday is a special kind of Thursday, because I'm having an extra review included since this month is shorter and I don't have enough days to get everything done!

I'm having the review for February's book for my book club, The Reader's Lounge Book Club and also an ARC that I got from NetGalley! Thank you so much Emma for being amazing!

Since it's an ARC it's also part of my 105 Challenge and part of my books for review category!

The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Boy Next Door was February's book for the Reader's Lounge (the book club I'm part of) and even though I started following pace, I ended up finishing it too fast because I needed to know what happened!

I found it a fun and quick read, that kept me turning the pages because I wanted to know when Gabe would finally get his shit together, and what was going on with Maddy's dad!

I absolutely adored everything that was about ice skating in this book, the training, the choosing of a new program with the choreography and the music. I've always loved watching ice skating (even if I cannot skate on ice or otherwise to save my life) and I know all the terms pretty well, so it was super easy to follow those parts of the book, and I feel I was as excited as Maddy to try for the triple Axel!

The relationship between Maddy and Gabe was alternatively sweet and frustrating for me. I liked that Maddy was proactive and knew what she wanted, but I really was irritated that Gabe kept on going on the secret thing and she went along with it. I was glad to have Gabe's POV because it kept me from wanting to punch him, because I could see how torn he was and how he thought he wasn't good enough for Maddy.

If the book would have only been about the skating and their relationship, it would have been enough, but then we had some added drama with Maddy's dad, and I feel like it was too much. It's also quite puzzling that give my line of work, I didn't guess what was going on at all!

What I really liked was that despite the drama and the hot and cold, both sounded like rather real teenagers, and I'm glad that the book was very sex positive, presented as something natural and showing how important consent and being sure about what you want is.

Not so in love with this one as I was with January's book, but very much worth the read for all the the ice skating bits! 3 to 3.5 stars to this one!




View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson!!

Hello there!

A new week starts and this one is a very relaxed one for me, because after working the weekend, I'm only working today and tomorrow and then I'll have the rest of the week off! *dances*

I'm starting the week with a new Mark This Book Monday entry and this one is special, because it's the first book chosen for my new book club, The Readers Lounge, organized by the lovely Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover!

I was concerned that the book wouldn't arrive in time to read it before the end of the month, because the post over here has been insanely slow and it's still recovering from a massive backlog over Xmas, but it arrived in time and then I read it at night in one sitting, so problem solved! ;)

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Since You've Been Gone was chosen as the first book of the book club I'm part of, the Reading Lounge and even if I wasn't entirely too sure if I'd like it. But luckily it was exactly what I needed to fight my blue mood & distract me of my insomnia! I didn't stop reading till nearly 6 am and I was finished with the book!

Emily is our main character and she's a very shy girl, used to having her best friend Sloane taking the lead in everything and dragging her out of her shell. Once Sloane seems to simply up and disappear without a trace, Emily is lost and a bit paralized without her. And then a list sent by Sloane appears and pushes Emily to get out of her shell, her comfort zone and to make friends and rely on herself.

I really enjoyed seeing Emily grow during the summer, finding herself in situations she wouldn't have been before (even less without Sloane next to her) and sometimes losing her nerve before compliting a task but always trying and finding that she's capable of more than she thought she would.

I loved that Emily's family is around, even if they're peculiar and are quite distracted for most of the summer, her parents are there and I simply loved their theater tradition and laid back but not lax attitude. Emily's brother was a riot with his daredevil ways!

I also really liked that we got the flashback moments to when Emily and Sloane met and their interactions and going out, because that way we could really get a sense of their friendship and how much it meant for Emily. I feel the book would have been incomplete without them, not as easy to relate to Emily's sense of loss.

This book managed to make me smile, laugh and giggle loads of times, not only there were fun and witty dialogs but some of the situations were simply hilarious! And the most fun were always those that involved Emily completing a task from the list.

Emily grows, find new friends, makes mistakes, learns from them and by the end of the summer she can stand on her own two feet, doesn't need Sloane to go out and interact with people and discover what she likes or not, but she still wants to find her friend. And once she does, that friendship is stronger for that.

I loved that friendship was such a central theme to this book and that the message for the most part about friendships and interactions was positive, without name calling or slut-shaming or any other pitfalls about female friendships that I abhor in books (and in society in general).

One of those contemporaries that makes me want to read more of them and well deserving of 4 stars!



View all my reviews

Tell Me Tuesdays #6!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome ladies of Please Feed The Bookworm and La La In The Library where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

 Dangerous Girls by Abigail Hass

"It's Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives. But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations.

As Anna sets out to find her friend's killer; she discovers hard truths about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.

As she awaits the judge's decree, it becomes clear that everyone around her thinks she is not just guilty, but dangerous. When the truth comes out, it is more shocking than one could ever imagine..."

 Free To Fall by Lauren Miller

"What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice?

What if you never had to fall?

Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming."


I'm doing a buddy read with Sam of Realm of Fiction for Dangerous Girls and I'm absolutely loving it! Free To Fall I'm reading as August's book for the Bookbusters Book Club on Goodreads!

 
So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

Read Discuss Repeat Virtual Book Club: Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz!!

Today I'm reviewing March's book for my virtual book club, Read Discuss Repeat! I managed to finish it on March 31st, cutting it quite close this time! I couldn't join the chats on Wiggio but I'm hoping I'll be able to for April's book! The best thing about a book club is reading those books you might have wondered about but didn't try before and even some books that are not your usual read.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was March's book for my virtual book club (Read Discuss Repeat) and I was quite pleased when it was selected cause I had thought of reading it, but wasn't sure about it. This was the right push, and boy am I glad that I read it.

This book is a wonderful and lyrical coming of age story. Two boys growing up, discovering who they are, forging a friendship and discovering how to deal with who they are.

This is not only the story that any guy having doubts about his own self and his own sexuality should read, it is also a book anyone that ever wondered who they really are and what defines who they are would want to read.

Both Ari and Dante and fantastic characters, very different, very real and have you rooting for them since page one. I also loved how present their parents are. Their families don't need to be perfect because they all have to work through things, but they are together and want to help each other, and even if it hurts, in the end they find a way to communicate.

Ari is the one that has the hardest road to walk, because he seems to be the one that is harder on himself and has more silence around him at home. His mother is a wonderful character that is always trying to reach his fifteen year old son and that worries about him in a way that he can't fully understand.

Dante might have a different fight ahead of himself, but he seem to accept himself as he is more easily than Ari does. He becomes Ari's best friend and the one that helps him get out of himself for the first time.

A wonderful book that made me cry rivers but also left me with a truly wonderful feeling. Very much recommended and easily a 4.5 to 5 stars read!



View all my reviews

Mark This Book Monday: All The Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry!!

Hello everyone! Happy St Patrick's Day!!

To start this week's Mark This Book Monday I'm sharing the review for the first book for Read Discuss Repeat, the virtual book club that Octavia from Read Sleep Repeat started and that I'm a member of. It was a book I had in my TBR list for quite a while, so I was very happy when it was chosen as the book for February!

All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


All The Truth That's In Me was the first book of my online book club, Read Discuss Repeat! I was quite pleased when it was chosen in the poll, and even more once I finished it.

This is quite an unusual book, starting with the way it is narrated, in the second person narrative. Also, the story goes back and forth from remembering past events, to talking about the present and relaying the main character feelings and hopes. There are no real references to a date or geographical location, but we especulate to when and where feels right for the story.

When I started the book I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but I got used to the different narrative and found myself feeling so much for Judith, the main character! Her voice was amazing, so caring, intelligent and observant and she always managed to make the best of her situation, even when the people around her didn't seem to see her as a full human being after her return from her ordeal.

We learn things little by little, small revelations here and there from Judith, how she keeps on remembering. I loved to see how she found allies, even some that she thought would be unlikely, and I loved how she kept on looking out for Lucas, the boy she loves and the one she keeps on talking to in her head (for most of the book).

There's a lot of reflection on the human nature, on love and relatinships. Characters are so well developed and you just feel so immersed in the story! I was kinda scared at some point to keep on turning pages cause I was heartbroken and enraged about some of the situations Judith had to go through!

I just felt such a sense of contentment and even fulfillment after finishing the book, this book made me cry in more than one occasion!

A wonderful book, very much worth of 4 to 4.5 stars!



View all my reviews

Attack of the Craft Book Club!

Friday is here again!


With the weekend almost here, and some time off coming, what better than curling in your sofa with a good book and a nice cup of tea? At least that's my idea of a lovely relaxing day!




Being the crazy bookworm I am, it was only a question of time till I ended up organizing a book club with other members of the Attack of the Craft, after one of them suggested all the bookworms with similar taste organized one!


For now, we're in the process of people signing up for it, and voting on a book genre poll, and we'll later select a book to read during March. We'll be discussing the book progress weekly on AOTC chat. I'm really excited about this, I've never been part of a book club, but I'm hoping this will be a fun experience and a way to discover new books!


I'll be probably blogging each month about the book we'll choose for the book club, if I can find a good name for my entries... any suggestions?


If you want to join us, head over to the AOTC forum, sign up for it and look for the book section, cause you know... the more the merrier!