Friday Reads: ARC Review of The Veil by Chloe Neill!!

Hey there guys!

Happy Friday! I'm trying to clear up my review pile a lil before jumping head first into ARC August!
The book for this week's Friday Reads is an ARC that I was approved for by Penguin on NetGalley! I cannot say thank you enough to the Penguin guys for being so kind to approve me so often over there!

It counts towards my 105 challenge since it is a 2015 release (an August 4th to be more precise!).

The Veil by Chloe Neill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'm a huge fan of Chloe Neill's other UF series, the Chicagoland Vampires series, and I was quite intrigued about this one.

I'm happy to report this is another UF series I will be faithfully following now. It has the trademarks of Chloe's writing without feeling like a rehash of Chicagoland.

The setting is New Orleans after a war with the paranormals in which the Veil that separates their world from ours was torn. Claire lives in a recovering from war NOLA, where magic is outlawed and paranormals are kept in a special prison. Times are tough and she runs an antiques + survival shop she inherited from her dad.

Claire is a wonderful character. She had plenty to be afraid of and she had a secret she kept from everyone in her life, but even fear of discovery and punishment wouldn't stop her from trying to help and do what's right. And even when her life threatens to change too much too fast she doesn't shrink back from what she can do to help. Not even what she would prefer to do is hide her head in the sand and pretend nothing happened. She's resilient, strong and a bit of firecracker, but not overly impulsive.

Liam is a bounty hunter with alpha tendencies but that doesn't really go to the "so alpha he ends up being an arsehole" side, which is always a relief. He's got his own issues and secrets but he's willing to help Claire be safe and also make her understand that there's more to the paranormals and the war that is public knowledge. I love that he wants to help her but doesn't treat her like a breakable thing but acknowlegdes who she is and what she can do.

The pacing was a bit slow through the first half or maybe a lil more of the book because there was some real basic world building to do and characters to stablish, but once the action started to pick up and the game started to be revealed... I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!

There's romance here but it's more on the attraction and the "should we should we not act on it", and "with the state of things and what can happen to you, maybe it's better if we keep our distance for reasons", but I cannot wait to see how these two deal with their attraction as the series progresses! They can make a great team.

Thankfully there's no real cliffhanger on this one, the first chapter of the larger story ends neatly although we know there's more coming and we are left really looking forward to see what's next for the gang!

3.5 well deserved stars on the higher side of the 3.5!



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Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop!!!

Hey again guys!

The second Mark This Book Monday entry of this week is one of my recent favourites and a series that has also become a firm all time favourite!

I was beyond surprised and giddy when I was approved for this one by Penguin via NetGalley (THANK YOU!!) and as an ARC it counts as part of my 105 Challenge and my books for review category!

Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another absolute winner. What a series this is shaping up to be! Everything gets bigger and the stakes get higher but at the same time everything gets more personal and intimate! The next book cannot come out soon enough!

I must warn you all that I might end up spilling some spoilers about book 1 and 2 and probably even don't realize about it, so if you haven't started this series SHOOOO GO GRAB THE FIRST TWO BOOKS AND READ THEM! I can promise I'll try my best to not spoil anything about this one, but just in case, tread with caution!

After The Others taking things into their own hands (and paws and other apendages) and making sure the cassandra sangue were freed from their prisons and the Controller being no longer a threat, they're left with the question of how to care for the girls that have been treated only as property, have been bred and raised for prophecy and have been kept away from the outside world all their lives. And the Other and their allies are utterly unprepared to help them and deal with them.

That's where our Meg, the only cassandra sangue ever to space and make a life for herself out there is the only one that can help. Her coping mechanisms and ways to deal with stimuli and change and new things will become the template for the Others and the Inuit to help the rest of the cassandra sangue to survive.

But that's not our only plot point, we still have the Courtyard politics and the way they interact with the humans in the city and their newly formed "human pack" consisting of Meg's friends and to some extent the police task force that always interacts with them. And seems that the terra indigene have decided that they will make sure to show humans that they will protect those that treat them fairly even from their fellow humans.

We also get a deeper look at the plan hatched by the Humans First and Last movement and that's possible thanks to the personal connections that detective Montgomery unwittingly had. The plot thickens as the adagio goes and not only we discover the lies that most of the population has been fed the past months but also the reasons for the lies, how they made those lies real and although we can't know for sure yet, the suspected reasons behind it all. There's corruption, lies and murder all around the fanatism of the HFAL and their way of branding those that are not part of their movement with the "wolf lover" as a slur and as a way of discriminating against them reminded me a bit of the Nazi branding of the Jews.

It seems so easy for the humans to forget that the world they're living in is shared with the Others, but only because the Others allow it. Those living in big cities forget that not far from the city limits they're nothing but prey. We learn so much more about the whole world, from how the Others are situated around the human settlements, to a lil of information of those areas that are really wild and untouched in any way by the humans and where some of the wildest terra indigene live, those that have no knowledge or regard whatsoever for the humans.

I love how Merri Lee and Ruthie become real friends for Meg and how they help her understand her way of dealing with things as a cassandra sangue, and how they are so supportive of her. I love how they form the "human pack" and they become respected by the terra indigene for that. Simon decides that since he's got experience with humans that respect the terra indigene and want to interact with them as more than just a curiosity, he needs to protect them and show how that's a new way for both species to live.

We have two new characters added to the already extensive cast, two cassandra sangue, Jean and the girl that loves colours. Through them both we learn some new tidbits about the cassandra sangue, new ways to see their perspective about their gift/curse and the way to try and live in a place where all the rules and truths they were told no longer apply. I don't know how Anne Bishop does it, but all the characters from main to secondary are so nuanced and so well constructed! None of them seem like fillers at any point!

And the relationship between Simon and Meg... it must be one of the slowest burns in a series but it's just so right for them! The pace couldn't be faster and still be true to the characters! Simon is terra indigene and he needs to accept that he might care for a human which is a huge shift on perspective for him. And Meg... Meg is so scared of change, so unsure about everything about the outside world. Baby steps in the only way for them to progress, and I really love how they end up asking for advice about their relationship to couples, even if they don't realize what kind of advice they're really asking for!

I was immensely lucky to read this book in advance, but oh boy, this those final revelations and ultimatum, the wait for the next book is gonna be absolute torture.

This series achieves a very rare feat in which each books keeps getting better than the previous one, keeps progressing the plot and making it more complex, offering more world building, developing characters and adding new ones that never fill like fillers. All the stars to this one!!



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Friday Reads: ARC Review of A Time To Dance by Padma Venkatraman!!

For the last entry of this week's Friday Reads I have an ARC of a book that I requested due to the Diversify Your Shelves campaign on Twitter, and that when I got approved for on its release day I wasn't sure when I'd fit in my reading schedule, but that ended up being a super fast read and a great discovery!

Thanks a lot to Penguin books for their approval via NetGalley! This one also counts towards my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!

A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I requested A Time To Dance on NetGalley I was doubting I would be approved, but I was really drawn to the cover (that beautiful and bridal looking saree!) and I was very intrigued about the story. India is a place I love and wanted to read more about the parts of it that I don't know. So I'm very thankful to Penguin for the approval!

I was a bit worried about it being told in verse, since this was my first foray into verse novels but I really shouldn't have. The narrative was magical but simple, enthralling and vivid and swept me along! I had expected reading verse would be slower but it this case I breezed through the book!

Veda is our main character and her story is one of growth, coming of age and triumph over many obstacles. She loves dancing over everything else, bharatanatyam being the ancient form of dance atributed to Shiva that she practices. But everything changes on the day of her bigger triumph to date, and she needs to learn to accept her new reality, to adapt to it, and to realize she doesn't necessarily have to give up on her dreams.

There are so many details that feel so Indian, that might be so shocking for other readers, and that might be questioned by others. But to me, that have been immersed in Indian culture for months on end for the last seven years, it all felt so genuine, so every day real... The characters and their relationships, the way the religion and the mysticism is explain and presented on the pages... that was fantastic. I'm in no way or shape a religious person but not only that aspect never bothered me, it also felt perfectly done and appropriate and fascinating to read.

There was a quote from the Bible in the book that even if it might be a bit surprising at first, given the religion primarily held in the book is Hindu, but so fitting for the theme of the book, I'll share a part of it:

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance...

A wonderful discovery of a book and an author I will be watching for from now on. Very well deserved 4 stars.



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Showcase Sunday #32!!

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!

This week was pretty good on the book front even though some of my preorders from The Book Depository are still missing and haven't arrived in the mail, but between Easter days and now Labor Day and all that, there were only 3 days this week that the post was working so I'm not surprised. Really hoping for many awesome books arriving next week! To compensate for that my Kindle preorders arrived timely and I was approved for 3 books on NetGalley! So thanks a lot to Entangled Pub, Penguin and Tor Books!

Purchased (via Kindle app)

Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins

Tease by Amanda Maciel (UK ed)

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

For Review (via NetGalley)

The Warrior by Victoria Scott

A Time To Dance by Padma Venkatraman

Unwept by Tracy & Laura Hickman

I decided to request A Time To Dance to put my money where my mouth is to support Diversity in YA & books in general, and although next week I have so many preorders coming and physical books arriving, I'm hoping to buy a pair more books the week after next to add even more diversity to my shelves!

What all did you get this week?

Showcase Sunday #22!!

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!

This week I got approved for a few very cool books on NetGalley and to my big surprise, I have been approved for another book on Edelweiss by Penguin!! I really wasn't expecting that! It also made me feel better until I got denied for all the Harper Teen titles I had requested, bummer!

Purchased (via Kindle app)

Tempest I got after reading the reviews for the entire series on Giselle's XpressoReads, The Mist on Bronte Moor was free this week (thanks Ula!) and had been on the TBR for a while and The Darkness of Light I discovered via Jamie Grey's blog and I'm a sucker for everything Irish!

Tempest by Julie Cross

The Mist on Brontë Moor by Aviva Orr

The Darkness of Light by Tammy Farrell

For Review (via NetGalley)

Lockstep by Karl Schroeder

The Forever Watch by David Ramirez

For Review (via Edelweiss)

The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

What all did you guys get this week? Any unexpected awesomeness in the mail?

Pins & Cards by LiPeony!

It's Wednesday, and even if you can't believe it, I'm back to post a new blog entry!


Today I've discovered how much of a good idea switching to shooting RAW and using Lightroom was... I had intended to dedicate the afternoon to pic-taking since I have quite a bunch of things to photograph for blogging, but since my mum reminded me we had the Christmas foods shopping to finish, all the natural light was gone when we came back home.


I decided to switch on the light and start shooting, since I can now tweak the white balance settings and the like, and even with the not too good conditions, I have to say I managed some really nice shots!


I really wanted to show off some super cute stuff I got from LiPeony today and a pair of weeks ago, and if you are regular readers, maybe the name would sound familiar (I got a set of super cute and fun bookmarks from her, Mark the bookmark!).


She has all sort of cute things in her shop, from prints & ACEOS to cards and felt pins!


On my latest orders I've got myself some ACEOS, cards and super cute felt pins, and those are the ones I want to show off!:


Her cards are hand stamped and drawn, with the cutest alien robots! There are lots of different designs, but I fell in love with these two:


Alien Robot Love




Party Chicks



Aren't they super cute?


But, if we are talking cute, her hand-sewn felt pins are on the top of cuteness! She has a lot of animals, and even some Holiday-related ones, like a lil snowman and a gingerbread man!


I got greedy and got myself three:






Red panda




Giant panda




& Mr Penguin!




I thought of maybe sharing them, but I'm not sure if I can part with them, so maybe I'll just get more as gifts! ;)


Tomorrow I plan to take pics with natural light since there are no errands to run, and the cooking of Christmas dinner will be once the daylight is gone, by 6 pm over here. Hopefully, it'll mean another blog entry!