Waiting On Wednesday #10!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

The book I'm super excited about that releases soon (next week!) is Two by LeighAnn Kopans!

Goodreads summary: 

"Elias and Merrin’s story continues in TWO, coming October, 2013...

Elias and Merrin are on the run.

After escaping the Biotech Hub, they thought they could breathe easy, or at least a little easier. But when bombs slam into the Social Welfare Hub only hours after their arrival, it becomes clear there's nowhere to hide - and no end to what Biotech will do to get them back.

Their last chance for safety and answers is the Clandestine Service Hub. CS has intel on the real, broader purpose behind Fisk’s experiments , and the newfound knowledge of the horrors hidden deep within Biotech’s walls sends Merrin back to recover a secret formula that could ruin the Supers’ world forever—and might just save the lives of the Biotech victims spiraling out of control.

Elias' sisters are counted among the victims of Fisk’s experiments, and if Elias can't find and help them, their powers will destroy them--sooner rather than later. Returning to the place it all began terrifies him, but with Fisk ready to make an example out of Merrin, and his sisters’ lives --and the lives of all Supers--hanging in the balance, he might not have a choice. If he can't find the courage to face his worst fears, Elias might lose more than his newfound powers."



Why am I eagerly awaiting Two? I read and loved One, and this is the second and final book in the One Universe duology, so I can't wait to see how the story continues and even more since Two is told from Elias perspective! Also, that cover? A-mazing!

What are you all (im)patiently waiting to read?

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Tainted by A.E. Rought!

Next for Mark This Book Monday, the sequel to the previous review! Reading and reviewing back to back!

And this one was also part of my September is for Sequels challenge, which btw I failed! My goal was to read 8 sequels and I only managed 6!

Tainted by A.E. Rought

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Tainted is the sequel to Broken and getting it from NetGalley/AngryRobotBooks was what really made me read Broken already, since it had been in my list for a while. As always I'll try to keep this review spoiler free, but some spoilers for Broken might come up.

Tainted starts quite shortly after the ending of Broken, and since I read them one after the other on the same day, it worked pretty well for me.

Broken was told from Emma's POV and Tainted is told from Alex's POV. It works pretty well with the storyline of the book and offers a different insight to what we already knew from Broken.

Alex and Emma are dealing with the aftermath of everything that happened in Broken. They need to figure out a bit their relationship, Emma's parents and specially her mom are a bit more protective than usual, and Alex has inherited quite a mess to clean up from his dad if he really wants to distance himself from all the ugliness that Dr Franks championed.

Two characters that were barely in the background in Broken take a new prevalence in Tainted, Paul and Hailey, both important in Alex's past and both becoming massively important on what the future would hold for both Alex and Emma.

The change of pace in this book was quite something, where Broken was more slow on  building up things and focused so much for so long on Alex & Emma's relationship, Tainted has plenty more action and quite a few unexpected surprises and twists, which were quite welcome! Still it seemed quite obvious for me who the "bad guy" behind all the strange happenings was, even if I didn't know clearly all details, so it was a bit frustrating having Alex distracted and muddled with details and not being able to figure out the bigger picture more easily.

More action doesn't mean no romance or less emotional content, I got quite emotional by then end of the book, so be warned, there can be tears!

Tainted was darker, even if still not a proper Gothic novel, it had enough disquieting and disturbing events to put it nearly there. Well deserved 3 stars.



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Mark This Book Monday: Broken by A.E. Rought!

This week's Mark This Book Monday start with a book that I got quite a while back and that I finally got to read this weekend!


Broken by A.E. Rought

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Broken had been in my TBR list for a while cause I thought a retelling of Frankestein would be interesting to read (even if I still haven't read the original yet, I know, I know...) and since I got the sequel from NetGalley/AngryRobot Books, I decided to get cracking and read this one already!

Maybe not having read the original might have worked in my advantage here, since I could take this one with the superficial knowledge of the story of someone who has seen movies or shows or references, but without a particular love for the storytelling or twists of the original.

Broken starts with Emma, a girl that has lost her boyfriend and that is unable to deal with her grief. She seems to go on autopilot through life and only comes slightly alive when she goes to the cementery to mourn her Daniel, even though he doesn't have a tomb there. Alex Franks, a new boy in Shelley High, seems to be the only one to strangely wake up by acting on occasion like her old boyfriend did, like opening her stubborn locker door.

The whole story starts more like a regular high school story, but thankfully goes in a few strangley routes despite the very typical high school setting.

Emma, despite her grief and how seemingly insta-love she connects with Alex, is never entirely blinded by the odd attraction, and acts like more of a normal human girl than most heroines. She freaks out with odd discoveries, and asks for time and distance to try and figure out if she can deal with whatever freaking stuff seems to pop up. She might not make the most intelligent choices ever, but not bad either for a teenage girl.

Alex is another mystery to solve for Emma, the reader, and even for a little bit, Alex himself. He goes from new mysterious boy with a past he doesn't ask questions for to the boy willing to do anything to save Emma and do what's right no matter what the consequences.

I loved having Emma's parents as normal parents, not the perfect cookie cutter ones, but a pair of different characters and to see how normal with love & hate the relationship of Emma with her mum is. Who hasn't feel totally frustrated with the way her mother deals with stuff but still understands it at the same time? I know I did (and still do).

The thing that perplexes me the most is how obvious the clues were all over the book about Alex and his father, Dr Franks, and how they led to the final revelation and how clueless Emma seemed to be till the last part of the book. It didn't completely irritate me, but it was a bit of the "you didn't figure that out already, really?" kinda feeling. I did like how the author modernized the process and the motivations for the doctor, and the final chapters were quite a good climax.

All in all it was an enjoyable read, with very well written emotions and with some really fun winks to gothic novels all over the book with names and references. 3 stars for me.



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Showcase Sunday #12!

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!

Purchased (via Kindle app)

Not A Drop To Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

For review (via NetGalley)

A Study In Silks by Emma Jane Holloway

A Study In Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

Thor: Viking God of Thunder by Graeme Davis

That's my haul! I'm quite excited to read the books about Sherlock's niece! 

What all did you guys get this week?

Friday Reads: Antigoddess by Kendare Blake!

Once again it's Friday, YAY! and to celebrate the weekend I'm back with a few reviews for Friday Reads!

For the first one we have a new twist on Greek Mythology with a slightly darker touch than usual, not that the Greek gods were all nice & fluffy themselves, no sir!


Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was so very excited to read Kendare Blake's take on the Greek gods and frankly, just the fact that she had added the twist of them dying from the get go was hinting at how unique the premise of this book is.

As always I will try my best to keep this review as spoiler free as possible!

Kendare Blake starts by putting the Greeks gods in an unexpected corner, they are all dying in different ways, all related somehow to who they are, so Athena is dying because she's growing owl feathers like a tumor, sprouting anywhere and everywhere in her.

The books is split in two different narratives/POVs for the most part, until they merge for the final showdown, one follows Athena and Hermes, trying to find answers to what is happening to them and how to stop it, and the other follows Cassandra who you'd think it's a normal teenager but no, she's the reincarnation of Cassandra of Troy, prophetess and oblivious key to the whole thing.

We get to see the gods split up in two sides, fighting each other and trying to grab at anything to get their way, which if you know about Greek myths, that's their usual modus operandi. Both gods and mortals keep on referencing Troy's war since that must have been one of the times where they were more involved and the gods took sides and wrecked countless lives for the heck of it.

Aside from the war, there's a lot of weigth on how the gods deal with the prospect of death and how that brings them closer to humanity, so they find themselves experiencing feelings that they never had before, or hadn't care to even think of having. That brings quite a lot of character developtment for the gods, mainly Athena, since she's the main goldy POV. And Cassandra's POV goes from accepting herself as different knowing she's a psychic to having to face a terrifying truth and the even more terrifying future of being engulfed in the gods' wars once again.

The plot moves quite in a quite straight forward way, without many twist or turns but it doesn't make it any less captivating and Kendare isn't pulling any punches here. She's not afraid to go ahead and make things grim and stab you right in the feelings!

The way she wraps up things is both enough to give you a finished book in itself and not be left with a massive cliffhanger but also to have you looking forward to the next book!

A fresh take on Greek gods that only she could write, very well deserving of 4 stars!



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Banned Books Week: Review of Eleanor And Park by Rainbow Rowell!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to an unexpected stop in the blog schedule, but I felt it was a really necessary one.
Last week I found out via Epic Read's Tea Time that this week was Banned Books Week in the US. I wouldn't have thought it'd still be an issue nowadays, the banning of books but it apparently really is a big issue in many areas all around the US. For more info visit this page.

I must say I'm not entirely sure if that ever happens here in Spain, but I really highly doubt it... maybe in private and more religious schools they might have different lists of recommended reads, but I don't think censorship is relevant in public libraries, still I'm going to do some research and ask in my local library about the issue.

Banning books and censoring them... it just sticks of repression and exertion of power without good reason, even more when you actually look at books that were banned and the reasons for banning them: 15 books banned for the crappiest reasons and then you can also read EpicRead's 12 Signs You're A Banned Book Reader.

As an absolutely book lover, total bookworm and enthusiastic reader that never had her taste on what to read questioned at home... this is absolutely bewildering! My parents apparently trusted that whatever I read wouldn't damage me and weren't questioning what books I took out of the library. At 14 I was devouring books about mythology where intrigues, infidelity and cold blood murder were rampant, I was devouring science fiction and books about alternate theories about Christiany all through high school, along with historical fiction and whatever else I could get my hands onto. And I believe that books are safe place to read about equally good and bad things about life, before you have to face them yourself, and they're also your best friends when you need to hide away from the world around you. No one has a right to impose their views on what others should or should not read, even more when half the time is clear they don't even know what they're talking about!

Once that rant is out of my system, to the review at hand! Eleanor and Park is one of the books that has had to deal with censorship and banishment more recently, so I decided that I really needed to read it for Banned Books Week!



Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I had heard so many good things about this book from other bloggers but since I'm usually wary of contemporaries I was a bit reluctant. Then came the author's Fangirl and after even more gushing from my reference bloggers, I gave it a chance and absolutely loved it! After that it was a question time that I read Eleanor and Park, but my timing was given by the news that an association of parents from a school district in US wanted to ban it. Cue my shock (and indignation) face of "does that really STILL happen in a democratic country??" Because I wouldn't have been surprised to hear of any book being banned in a country with a teocracy in charge, or a dictatorship, since those aren't big on thinking for yourself but in the so-called "land of the free"? Colour me shocked! (and again indignant!).

Then Tea Time from Epic Reads & Harper Teen talked about the issue and Banned Books Week, and I knew I would read Eleanor and Park for that week and would support the author and the freedom to read whatever you want!

And boy, am I glad that I did! This is a brilliant book! It's a tough book to read, full of real life issues. It's raw, it's real and it's full of what's ugly out there, yes. But it is also treated in a very realistic way with loads of hope. And does show us that there's always light in dark places. The biggest message I get from Eleanor & Park is that one, hope.

Hope that we can find someone that will make us smile even in unlikely situations, hope that friends can be found even when you are trying to keep everyone at a distance, hope that love can happen even to those who don't believe they deserve it. Hope that good things can happen even when you had given up on hope itself.

Eleanor and Park is a story about two kids that fall in love, with their very different backgrounds and their own different stories. It's a story with gritty and dark corners cause life is not all rainbows and fluffly unicorns, so it's raw and real and so are the characters, flawed, real, with issues, damaged and growing.

The characters feel real, the story feels real, the pacing, the progression, the issues, the ending... everything feels real, like this might be a story that has actually happened to someone and we get their story through the very expert hands of Rainbow Rowell.

I know now that I will read everything that she writes, because this book is a very much deserving 5 stars for me!



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Waiting On Wednesday #9!!

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted at Breaking The Spine  that spotlights those can't-wait-to-get-my-hands-on-them books that we are eagerly awaiting!

 This week the book I'm bitting-my-nails-in-advance-for-its-release is Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano!!

Goodreads summary:

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy: On the floating city of Internment, you can be anything you dream. Unless you approach the edge.

Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge of Internment, the floating city in the clouds where she lives, can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. If she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in her best friend, Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, he is the boy being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find – or whom she will lose."
 

Why am I eagerly awaiting Perfect Ruin? First of all cause I loved Lauren's previous series and the way she writes her stories and characters. And second: floating city? Murder mystery in supposedly idilic society? GIMME! I also got the chance to read the first few pages of the book online via Scribd (thank you Lauren!) which totally made me want to read the full book even more! Next week is nearly here!!


What are you all (im)patiently waiting to hear?

Ultraviolet Catastrophe by Jamie Grey releases today!

Today is release day for very many awesome books! Seriously, fall/autumn is full of awesome books all coming out at the same time, but one has a very special place in my geeky heart and it is Ultraviolet Catastrophe by Jamie Grey!

It is a Young Adult science fiction story, with plenty of geeky references and quite a lot of science thrown in there!

About the Book:

Quantum Electrodynamics. String Theory. Schrödinger's cat. For sixteen-year-old Lexie Kepler, they’re just confusing terms in her science textbooks, until she finds out that her parents have been drugging her to suppress her outrageous IQ. Now Branston Academy, a school run by the world’s most powerful scientists, has tracked her down and is dying for her to attend - as a research subject.

She takes refuge at Quantum Technologies, a secret scientific community where her father works as a top-notch scientist, and begins her new life as girl genius at Quantum High. But the assignments at her new school make the Manhattan Project look like preschool - and Lexie barely survived freshman algebra.

Her first big assignment – creating an Einstein-Rosen bridge – is also her first chance to prove she can hold her own with the rest of QT's prodigies. But while working with the infuriatingly hot Asher Rosen, QT’s teen wonder, Lexie uncovers a mistake in their master equation. Instead of a wormhole, the machine they’re building would produce deadly ultraviolet rays that could destroy the world. Now Lexie and Asher have to use their combined brainpower to uncover the truth behind the device. Before everyone at Quantum Technologies is caught in the ultraviolet catastrophe.

Where you can buy Ultraviolet Catastrophe:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Kobo

Add it to Goodreads

About the author:

Jamie Grey spent most of her childhood writing stories about princesses who saved the day and pretending to be a daring explorer. It wasn’t until much later that she realized she should combine the two. Now, as a tech-obsessed gamer geek, her novels mix amazing scientific developments, future worlds, and the remarkable characters that live in them. 

You can learn more about her at www.jamiegreybooks.com, or follow her on twitter via https://twitter.com/Jamie_Grey

I was super excited when I got a chance to read an ARC of this book and totally loved it, so I decided to take part on the blog tour of this book to share it with as many people as possible! Here you can read my favourite quote of the book and my review.