Giveaway!! - The Girl From the Well + The Suffering - Rin Chupeco

Title: The Suffering

Author: Rin Chupeco

Release Date: September 1, 2015

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

The Suffering is the highly anticipated sequel to "The Girl From the Well" by Rin Chupeco.

It’s been two years since Tark Halloway’s nightmare ended. Free from the evil spirit that haunted him all his life, he now aids the ghostly Okiku and avenges the souls of innocent children by hunting down their murderers. But when Okiku becomes responsible for a death at his high school, Tark begins to wonder if they’re no better than the killers they seek out.
When an old friend disappears in Aokigahara, Japan’s infamous ‘suicide forest’, both must resolve their differences and return to that country of secrets to find her.
Because there is a strange village inside Aokigahara, a village people claim does not exist. A village where strange things lie waiting.
A village with old ghosts and an ancient evil – one that may be stronger than even Okiku… 


Click here to read more about the first novel in the series: The Girl From the Well

***Enter here to win a copy of The Girl From the Well and The Suffering***

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Book review 20 - Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

Pages: 323
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication date: March 2, 2010
Summary: 
Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father—an elusive European warlock—only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tag-along ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

My thoughts:

I am possibly one of the only people who hasn't read Rebel Belle so I didn't know how amazing Rachel Hawkins was at writing! There is nothing extremely spectacular about her writing there aren't really intricate profound quotes and there aren't any special qualities that set her apart like poetry prose or anything of the sort, but all of that is why her writing is so great. She took a very plain storyline, something done before, and made it incredibly unique and beautiful because it was so real. 
For instance, her characters were so perfect. Sophie was everything you would expect her to be given her situation. She was a giving caring character who was also definitely selfish and she second guessed herself and others all the time, all the while giving chances to the underdog. She is in reality a well rounded character that I could see existing in the world and that's so rare.
Besides the supernatural beings, this was a very realistic book. They go to classes, they sometimes suck at classes, she got detention, there was a cute boy with a girlfriend who happened to be the mean girl. It was basically the supernatural version of mean girls if they had been at a boarding school and I loved it. 
So simple. This is not a book that you spend 100 days trying to get over, this isn't a book that you can't stop thinking about, but it's a really good fun book to immerse yourself in for a few hours. Really enjoyed it. 

Book review 19 - Dream a Little Dream - Kerstin Gier

Pages: 319
Publisher: Henry Holt
Publication date: April 14, 2015
Summary: 
Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.

The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know--unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute....

My thoughts:

This book was unexpectedly good! I am not going to lie, from the blurb, I was picturing a sort of The Raven Boys knock off story and the only similarities is that there are dreams, and 4 boys and a girl. Otherwise, they are nothing alike!

Dream a Little Dream follows a hilarious girl named Olivia who moves to London and meets 4 boys in a dream one night, and these same four boys go to her school. What ensues next is Liv, using her love for solving problems, trying to figure out what the boys are up to, and how she fits in to everything. 

The best part of the book is by far the characters. Liv and her sister Mia are hilarious. They had me laughing out loud several times with their hilarious sarcasm and commentary throughout the book. They remind me a bit of me and my sister and they were refreshing to read. 
The four boys as well I love. At first I had a difficult time deciphering between them. Grayson is the easiest one to remember. He is a sort of mysterious character but he's so protective of Liv. Then there's Jackson who is the party boy and class clown of their group. Not the smartest, but he likes to make everything less serious. Arthur is the mysterious and somewhat more closed off guy, who also happens to be the hottest boy and then there's Henry. The cute and also protective character who's sweet and caring of Liv in a way the other 3 are not (Grayson a bit).

I will say, the romance in the book is cute. It starts a bit typical because you do know she will fall for one of the four boys, but who it is was a bit surprising.  There was a character I expected her to like, even though it would have been a bit weird, but the one she ends up liking is the one I like the most. The romance is well placed and well dealt with. Never too excessive or too little. Really cute and I look forward to seeing if it works out.

Plot wise this book was great! I love the creativity of the story. I love the pacing. Never too fast or too slow. I felt like every scene was necessary and helped further the plot in some way. I also love the ending because it has a bit of an open ending, but if this was a stand alone I wouldn't mind.

I truly adored this book and I hope that book 2 and 3 get translated to English soon because I worry that someone who has read them all in German will spoil them for me!

I definitely recommend this book, and probably the entire trilogy, to everyone who like a bit of a light fantasy read with nothing overly complicated.

Book review 17 - The Black Mage: First Year by Rachel E Carter

Pages: 276
Publisher: Astraea Press
Publication date: August 11, 2014
Summary: 
For 15-year-old Ryiah, the choice has always been easy. Become a warrior and leave the boring confines of her lowborn life behind. Set to enroll in the School of Knighthood on the eve of her next birthday, plans suddenly shift when her twin brother discovers powers. Hoping that hers will soon follow, she enrolls with Alex at the Academy instead -the realm's most notorious war school for those with magic. 
Yet when she arrives, Ry finds herself competing against friend and foe for one of the exalted apprenticeships. Every "first-year" is given a trial year to prove their worth -and no amount of hard work and drive will guarantee them a spot. It seems like everyone is rooting for her to fail -and first and foremost among them Prince Darren, the school prodigy who has done nothing but make life miserable since she arrived. 
When an accidental encounter leads Ryiah and Darren to an unlikely friendship, she is convinced nothing good will come of it. But the lines become blurred when she begins to improve -and soon she is a key competitor for the faction of Combat... Still, nothing is ever as it seems -and when the world comes crashing down around her, Ry is forced to place faith in the one thing she can believe in -herself. Will it be enough?

My thoughts:

This was a very pleasant surprise!! I really loved this book! It had a very Harry Potter/Iron Trials feel to it but honestly I liked aspects of this story so much more!!
I loved Ryiah! I love that she is tough and strong willed, but also I love that she can be weak and has her moments where she lets her guard down. She pushes herself to the limit but also breaks. I love that she is extremely human and very easy to relate to.
Her brother is hilarious to me. Always flirting and all that, I really love that the author made him into a ladies man! I also see some romance brewing between him and Ella!
Darren is a character that I am mixed on. I mean he's an ass to start with, really just an unpleasant human in the beginning. But then he gets... better? I mean he stays an ass until the last 2.5 seconds when he smiles but like I love him. I don't particularly like that he's betrothed to Priscilla (who is a living nightmare, the sooner her character dies off, the better!!) but I mean eventually Darren will confess his undying love to Ryiah and all will be right in the world.
I loved the world building, the story, the characters, the writing, just everything!! I really recommend this book!! 

Since I have absolutely no way to access the second book (since the library website I got it from was a free trial that expired) unless some kind soul buys me the paperback for my birthday, I am currently stuck :/ 

P.S: "You can scream obscenities at me after." - the best way to start a kiss with me for future reference to all those interested and concerned.

Book review 15 - Wait For You by Jennifer Armentrout

Pages: 332
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: February 26, 2011
Summary: 
Some things are worth waiting for.

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago--an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe--please God--make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn't need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she's building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing.

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that's just so... so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet.

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she's has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for.

My thoughts:

I am in a huge reading slump lately. I have no problems reading, but I cannot for the life of me stick with a book. So imagine my joy when I start Wait For You and I stay up till 4am reading. I absolutely loved this, adored this. I really did and I truly believed I would love love the entire thing... and then I got to the scene in the bedroom at Cam's parents house.
Now, I didn't read far enough to get to the big reveal, but it's obvious to anyone with brains that she was raped at that party. I guessed it the first time she mentioned "that party" as she calls it all the time. I have never been raped, so I cannot imagine the horror that it is, especially when everyone calls you a lying whore after and essentially acts like it didn't happen. The emotional trauma she is going through is extremely understandable.
And yet... there's this really cool thing called therapy. I know she apparently went to therapy secretly when she was in HS, but 5 years in therapy and nothing helped her? She really should have continued with it. She has all these demons in her that YES let me feel sympathetic to her, but at the same time I don't think they were justifiable reasons for the way she treated Cam. 
Which leads me to why I DNF'd this book...
that scene in the room when he saw her scar solidified every negative feeling I was having towards her that I had been ignoring. I pushed through because I liked the book and I LOVED Cam and Raphael and Ollie and Britt and Jacob and I figured they were enough to get me through, but I just couldn't do it after that scene.
He sees her scar that she tried to kill herself. I understand the shame she feels because I have the same scars but it's like she didn't know Cam. Cam spent every day of 2 months asking her out. She should have known he wasn't looking at her with anger. It really bothers me that she literally cut him out of her life because he saw her scars. Not to mention dropping a class for him? Come on girl.
While that bothered me, it isn't why I stopped reading. I stopped reading because she made the conscious decision to separate herself from him and I could have dealt with that. End of book. But no, naturally as soon as he finally was able to let go of her (not REALLY let go obviously) she got jealous and upset. She made her decision and quite frankly had no right to get jealous over Cam and Steph.
Normally, I would not TERRIBLY mind that. I might have continued on the book, pretended everything was fine and waited for the inevitable happy ending, but given how weak of a character she was, how really shitty she treated Cam, and everything else I knew would be coming with her rape and everything, I just really don't have it in me to finish this book.

I'm having a problem lately where little things that I could normally ignore are ruining books for me and I guess I'm being nitpicky but I have a lot on my TBR list and I don't want to waste time reading books I don't like, and also I mean I love JLA but it's clear to me I'm destined to love Obsidian more than anything else she ever writes.

Book review 14 - Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius

Pages: 340
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication date: May 12, 2015
Summary: 
Love is real in the town of Grimbaud, and Fallon Dupree has dreamed of attending high school there for years. After all, generations of Duprees have successfully followed the (100% accurate!) love fortunes from Zita’s famous Love Charms Shop to happily marry their high school sweethearts. It’s a tradition. So she is both stunned and devastated when her fortune states that she will NEVER find love.
Fortunately, Fallon isn’t the only student with a terrible love fortune, and a rebellion is brewing. Fallon is determined to take control of her own fate—even if it means working with a notorious heartbreaker like Sebastian.
Will Fallon and Sebastian be able to overthrow Zita’s tyranny and fall in love?

My thoughts:

Not going to lie I knew nothing about this book before I bought it. This book was featured in a cover contest in May and I voted for it because it was the cutest cover. Then later that same day I went to the bookstore and saw the book and bought it on a whim. So glad I did because the cover is GORGEOUS and the book is SO CUTE!!

Anyone who knows me, or who has read my reviews, knows that YA contemporary isn't always my favorite. I like a few, especially the cuter romantic ones, but I have a difficult time reading some contemporary because there is no action. But for some reason this book was a total hit with me! The more I think about it, the more I realize that because in its own way, this is like a dystopian book. A girl sets out, with help, to change the fate of her city. It's such a cute idea.

I can't even begin to explain how unique this book is. In the town of Grimbaud, everyone gets a love fortune that tells them how their love life will turn out. So this town is centred around love. The main girl, Fallon, gets a love fortune with horrible news, and she's not the only one, so she decides to do something about it with them. Love runs this town, and I think it's such a cute idea. It reminds me of a Valentine's Day story, but where every day is Valentine's Day.

The world that this author has created is just so cute and fluffy. A little town where everything is like Valentine's Day all the time and everyone is happy and in love. 

I had one problem with the book, and not going to lie it was a big problem.. I didn't like the main girl. She was such a pretentious materialistic judgmental character. At times I found her intolerable with her better than everyone else stuck up attitude. I grew to like her, but she never seemed to grow out of that little phase and she just bothered me to be honest. Not enough to ruin the story, thank god, but enough that I was rolling my eyes at her. Her character development was there, she did grow as a character, but she never lost those qualities about her. 
Another problem I had were the very weirdly placed time jumps. Moments where she was doing something and thinking something and the next moment she would be somewhere else doing something else and there was no page break to indicate that so I was a bit confused at times.

This book reminded me of a cheesy tv movie. I don't mean that in a really bad way either. Like a really cute TV movie that everyone loves even though it's a little far fetched. You just can't help loving it because it's just so darn cute!! 

Well, I've used up my quota for the amount of times I can say cute in a review, so yeah, read this!

Book review 11 - These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meghan Spooner

Pages: 374
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication date: December 10, 2013
Summary: 
Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive -- alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth. 

My thoughts:

Well holy crap. 100/5 stars for this book. I am in awe at how good it was. 
I don't read blurbs anymore. I am most definitely a "judge a book by its cover and title" type of person and since this book has a gorgeous cover and title I knew I had to read it. 
The plot follows Tarver and Lilac who are stranded somewhere after their space ship thing crashes. I will admit, survival stories where characters are stranded have never interested me but this book was so amazing I think my entire outlook on that is changed. The pacing isn't too slow and it's not too fast. It didn't feel like anything dragged, which is amazing considering there was room for it, and nothing was rushed. 
This book has literally 2 main characters and only 1 secondary character. There are a few MINOR characters but they are minor. That being said, you spend the book with 2 characters the entire time. They are both so loveable. Lilac's character development is STUNNING!!! It's so perfect and it's paced so well, and the best thing is that it is  acknowledged. Tarver was my favourite though. I cared for his well being so much. There are several times in this book when my heart ached for him because I want him to be happy. I want both of them to be happy. 
On the topic of happiness, a book where the romance wasn't forced!! It was such a well written romance. It was paced well, it didn't take over any of the plot, it was cute and fluffy and really fit in well to the book. 
This book was incredibly beautiful. I am still in awe at how beautiful this book was. The writing was elegant and flowed well, nothing too extreme or overdone, simple but effective. The narrative was realistic and felt like everything could have been real.

I truly recommend this to everyone and anyone that enjoys any genre. It's got sci-fi. fantasy, possibly dystopian, and was even a pretty decent romantic book.

Book review 10 - Angelfall by Susan Ee

Pages: 284
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication date: January 1, 2011
Summary: 
It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

My thoughts:
Sobs.

This book is so beautiful. It wasn’t before reading Angelfall that i realized that I love Angels. Angels are my favourite supernatural being.

Characters? Fantastic. There are so few main characters and yet they are all treated as so important. Even characters you meet for 2 chapters are written so well that you get their entire personality and you are left knowing exactly who they are and it’s amazing. Penryn is one of my favourite characters because she is incredibly REAL. She wants to save her family. That’s it. She wants to do everything she can to save her family. She wants an end to the apocalypse yes, but her main priority is to save her family, not the world. 

Writing? EXCELLENT! Like when you can FEEL what a character is feeling when it’s not even them who is narrating? That’s amazing talent. You have to be an excellent writer to make readers feel things that they aren’t even being described.

The world building and plot itself is great. It’s really nice to see an apocalypse that is so fresh. It’s only been 6 weeks since the Angels came so you get to see the slow falling apart of the world. The Angels themselves are one of my favourite parts of the book. I will never get old of the fallen angels storyline and this book featured it heavily. They are complicated and really a great plot point. There is little dialogue in this book and yet you feel all the unspoken conversations and words. Again, it takes extreme talent to be able to have 2 book characters have a conversation without really having it. 

This book met and far exceeded any expectations I had for it.