Reading Fictional: September 2013

September 30, 2013

Review: Once We Were by Kat Zhang

Title: Once We Were (The Hybrid Chronicles #2)
Author: Kat Zhang
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: September 17th 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 3/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of What´s Left of Me - here

"I'm lucky just to be alive."

Eva was never supposed to have survived this long. As the recessive soul, she should have faded away years ago. Instead, she lingers in the body she shares with her sister soul, Addie. When the government discovered the truth, they tried to “cure” the girls, but Eva and Addie escaped before the doctors could strip Eva’s soul away.

Now fugitives, Eva and Addie find shelter with a group of hybrids who run an underground resistance. Surrounded by others like them, the girls learn how to temporarily disappear to give each soul some much-needed privacy. Eva is thrilled at the chance to be alone with Ryan, the boy she’s falling for, but troubled by the growing chasm between her and Addie. Despite clashes over their shared body, both girls are eager to join the rebellion.

Yet as they are drawn deeper into the escalating violence, they start to wonder: How far are they willing to go to fight for hybrid freedom? Faced with uncertainty and incredible danger, their answers may tear them apart forever.

Once I finished reading What's Left of Me, I couldn´t wait to read Once We Were which is the second book in the trilogy The Hybrid Chronicles mainly because I wanted to see how would progressed or if it would progress the romance between Eva and Ryan, since it is obvious that both are falling in love with each other, but there is the small fact that Eva shares her body with Addie and the latter isn´t attracted to Ryan, so it would be difficult if not impossible a romantic relationship between them, because Addie doesn´t like Ryan.

So Eva and Addie begin to practice disappearing for a while to give privacy to one another and meanwhile Eva is starting to grow impatient with the slow pace that the resistance is taking about retrieving the other hybrids from the clinic, as it has been a couple of months since they escaped the clinic and Eva haven´t heard any news of the other hybrids that were hospitalized with her. So Eva decides to make some difference, something that Addie isn´t totally on board, but Eva decides to help another group of young hybrids because she´s tired of waiting to something to happen, so they begin to engage in acts against government, which at first seem harmless, until things get out of control and Eva must decide whether to continue with them or abandon the mission.

In this book, Eva 's character grows as she begins to make decisions about what they do because before Addie was the one making the decisions, Eva is desperate to prove herself, that she can achieve some kind of change and help other hybrids, but she also wants to please everyone so she doesn´t make the best decisions.

Overall, I enjoyed Once We Were, but the pace of the story was a bit slow at times, it has some action scenes but my favorite part was the romance between Eva and Ryan it´s very sweet and cute. What I didn´t liked was that Eva keeps making bad decisions, it felt like a horror movie where you yell to the girl that she musn´t open that door or to not run upstairs or hide in a certain place, since it was obvious in some of her decisions that it wouldn´t end well. And I also felt annoyed that Addie does not impose a little more, if the decisions Eva made was endangering the two of them, I think she should have tried to reason with her. I definitely loved What's left of me so hopefully in the next book the plot will get better. This book suffers of the second book syndrome, it isn't as good as the first.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.

Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

Click on the image to look description in Goodreads.

Finished reading

Currently reading

What I´m going to read next?

What are you reading today?

Leave me your links!

Have a great week!

Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:

September New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

September 29, 2013

Review: Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

Title: Not a Drop to Drink
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release date: September 24th 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.

Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….

With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

Not a Drop to Drink is a post-apocalyptic novel that takes place after that there was a shortage of water and the remainder of drinkable water is guarded at all costs. Lynn has lived all her life with her mother only, she has never interacted with other people and spends her days with her mother on the roof of their house with a rifle in hand guarding the pond at their property and shooting at any human that approaches them.

Because Lynn knows no other life, only what her mother has told her, she´s suspicious of everyone, has hard feelings at the beginning of the story and all the people outside of their little family are considered enemies, so they shoot first and investigate later.

It's easy to become emotionally attached to the character of Lynn, because during the course of story, she will open up to new people, she´ll grow up and begin to make her own decisions and even go against everything her mother taught her. And Lynn's mother is a really tough woman, she´s practical, blunt and willing to do anything to stay alive, but there is a part that left me speechless...this is the quote:

“Just know that there's bad men in the world, and dying fast by your mother is a better way than theirs.”

And this is what her mother tells her since she was 9 years old.

“Do you want to die like this?" Mother had asked, that night and every night since then.
Lynn's answer never changed. "No."
And Mother's response, their evening prayer. "Then you will have to kill.”

Not a Drop to Drink is a story of survival, of constant struggle that touches several issues of what happens when the human is desperate to survive, to what the human is that is capable to do to stay alive and how important is family. The only details that I found in this book is that it has several parts that are slow, I was just waiting for something to happen and the ending is very bittersweet (I´m still in denial).

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.

Book trailer

September 26, 2013

Review: The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas

Title: The Burning Sky (The Elemental Trilogy #1)
Author: Sherry Thomas
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: September 17th 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

It all began with a ruined elixir and an accidental bolt of lightning…

Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.

Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.

But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.

I haven´t read a lot of fantasy novels, but lately I've been reading several books of this genre and are really enjoying it, I think I 'm gonna let rest a little the dystopias to read more fantasy novels.

I loved The Burning Sky! it has good start and with great world building and perhaps for some this can be a little slow at the beginning but I feel that it was necessary to understand the different types of mages and magic. Iolanthe and Prince Titus live in a world where everybody do magic, in their present the mages depend more potions, spells and wands, but there are few elemental mages; these mages can control one or more of the elements: water, earth, fire and air. And Iolanthe is an elemental mage she can control fire, water and earth, and although she is good controlling the elements than others she isn´t considered a great mage until one of her elixirs gets spoil, and she finds the way to fix it, through a lightning ... something she never tried before but she decides to try ... and when she does succeed, her life is changed forever as several people are trying to get hold of her, with the intention of giving her to The Bane. So she must run and hide.

For his part, Prince Titus knows he must find and protect Archer Fairfax, because the future of his kingdom depends of his help, what Prince Titus did not expect was that Archer being a girl instead of a boy.

The book is told from the point of view Titus and Iolanthe. Iolanthe is a 16 year old orphan girl and she has a guardian that care for her - Master Haywood, she is an elemental mage originally uses her powers to entertain their neighbors. What I really liked about her character was that when she learns her destiny, that she will have to face The Bane in the future, the most powerful mage of their time, she reacts ... incredulous, and refuses to participate ( and rightly so ), wants to escape her fate, because in the future she doesn´t see herself facing anyone, much less to The Bane, and her reactions I felt them very real. On the other hand we have the Prince Titus, a 16 years old boy, he´s the heir to the throne of The Domain, but his kingdom live under the oppression of Atlantis and its leader 's The Bane, so all his life Titus had to pretend to be selfish, egotistical, have to lie to everyone around him and he does not trust anyone. And because is a mandate from The Bane, instead of studying in a school for mages, for the past few years Titus has had to study at Eton College in England, in the human world. Most of the story takes place in 1883 at Eton College.

Overall, The Burning Sky is an excellent start to a trilogy, the story has a good pacing, has action, magic and romance. The romance is not insta-love, since feelings slowly emerge and against the wishes of both, because both think that if there were feelings involved, it could affect their partnership and Prince Titus ultimate goal is to fight against The Bane. I really LOVE this book and will impatiently wait for the next book. I highly recommend this book.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.

Book trailer

September 25, 2013

Waiting On Wednesday (92): Allegiant

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The book I´m waiting this week is

Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

Release date: October 22nd 2013

One choice will define you.

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Why I'm Waiting?

I still haven´t read Insurgent but I´m planning to read it back to back with Allegiant.

What book are you waiting this week?

Leave your WOW links

Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:

September New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

September 24, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday (19): Top Ten Best Sequels Ever

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Best Sequels Ever
(in no particular order)

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Clare

Where She Went (If I Stay #2) by Gayle Forman

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins

The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey #4) by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa

The Bitter Kingdom (Fire and Thorns #3) by Rae Carson

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) by J.K. Rowling

ADULT

Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires #3) by Chloe Neill

Shadowfever (Fever #5) by Karen Marie Moning

Stolen (Women of the Otherworld #2) by Kelley Armstrong

Honorable mentions:

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta : This is actually a companion novel. It´s a MUST READ.

Which are your favorite sequels?

Leave me your links!

Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:

September New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

September 23, 2013

Review: What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

Title: What's Left of Me (The Hybrid Chronicles #1)
Author: Kat Zhang
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: September 18th 2012

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

I should not exist. But I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Eva and Addie live in a world where everyone is born with two souls, the dominant and recessive, both can move the body and talk, but it is the dominant soul in control most of the time and usually recessive soul vanishes before the age of 10 years old. Addie was not settled until she was 12 years old or at least that's what everyone thought, because Eva didn´t fade as she must have, as normal people do but continued to live in the body that she shares with Addie, only now she has no control over it, she can only see through their eyes and communicate with Addie. But even in that state no one should know that she still exists because if the government finds out that they are still hybrid, they would be separated from their parents and taken to a medical facility from which no one returns.

In the world Eva and Addie live, the hybrid over 10 years old are prohibited, because in their history hybrids are unstable and they always wanted to dominate the non-hybrid, and they´were the ones that brought the Great world wars, that´s why America is a country created by non-hybrid (or people with only one soul ) and they closed their borders to the rest of the world because in the countries ruled by hybrids are at war and in chaos. So all hybrid are expected to be of violent nature .

By this fact Eva and Addie live in fear of being discovered, so that not even their parents know that Eva still exists. What's left of me is told from the point of Eva, the recessive soul, she´s a 15 years old girl that has no control over her body, but still clinging to her existence, because she´s afraid of disappearing, so she accept this way of living until she learns that there is a possibility that she can regain control of her body. I really liked the relationship between Eva and Addie because they rely heavily on each other and the fact that not been together is unthinkable for both, but as good sisters, they have their differences and discuss a lot. In the course of the story they become friends with Hally and her brother Ryan and the latter will be Eva´s romantic interest. My main question is how Eva and Addie will do with the fact that Eva is falling in love with Ryan but Addie isn´t.

I really liked What's left of me, it´s a good first book of a trilogy, the romance is a little bit slow, there are some scenes of action and the world where Eva lives is explained but I have many doubts about the hybrids. I can´t wait to read Once We Were and know more about the hybrids.

Book trailer

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Book Journey.

Each week we spotlight the books we are reading, planning on reading or just finished reading.

Click on the image to look description in Goodreads.

Finished reading

Last week I read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (Review), The Burning Sky and What´s Left of Me and I really enjoyed them all, they´re really good books..

Currently reading

What I´m going to read next?

What are you reading today?

Leave me your links!

Have a great week!

Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:

September New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

September 21, 2013

Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: September 3rd 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is one of my most anticipated books that were released this year, the synopsis sounds great and the mere fact that it is a book about vampires, I needed to read it. And therefore I had sky high expectations, and maybe because of this I felt that something was amiss for the book to satisfy me completely. I felt that some of the key moments were interrupted by having some background tales/world-building or the point of view of some other character, I wanted to stay only with Tana and know what was going on with her, Aidan and Gavriel.

I felt this book a little in the genre of post-apocalyptic, in addition to being about vampires, because 10 years before the story begins, the fact that vampires were real was disclosed by an epidemic and that vampirism is transmitted through the bite of a vampire and the infected (they´re called colds) become vampires by drinking human blood. So the government to contain the epidemic decided to walled some cities, with humans, vampires and colds inside, and once you're inside these walled cities called Coldtowns, you can never leave. And these Coldtowns are really dangerous cities, with an air of devastation and where you can trust no one.

The story is not like other vampire books that I've read lately (at least YA novels), the plot is dark and somewhat decadent with disturbing moments. The Coldest Girl in Coltown begins dramatically, Tana awakens in a bathtub, the day after a party with friends from school, to discover that all were attacked by vampires and they´re dead, the only survivor besides Tana is her ex-boyfriend Aidan, who was infected with the virus that transmits vampirism and in the same room is Gavriel, a vampire who is chained and helps her to escape. So while they´re fleeing other vampires, Tana decides to take Aidan to a Coldtown, a quarantined city where they take the infected, and there reside vampires along with humans willing to donate blood just to attend parties organized by vampires.

I really liked Tana's character, she´s a girl who in adversity remains calm despite being scared, has a good heart, is clever and always is looking to help others even when they do not deserve it. Aidan is a selfish guy who first sees for himself and then for others, but he´s fond of Tana, plus he likes having her around because she´s familiar to him. And Gavriel the vampire, is handsome, dangerous, mysterious, not completely sane.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, but it has its slow parts and other chapters from the point of view of other characters that I was tempted to skip them, but I didn´t. I liked the romance but I felt it a little short, the story has several action scenes and here the vampires are dark, violent and scary.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Book trailer

September 18, 2013

Waiting On Wednesday (91): Endless Knight

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The book I´m waiting this week is

Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2) by Kresley Cole

Release date: October 1st 2013

In the second book of the Arcana Chronicles Evie has now fully come into her powers as the tarot Empress. And Jackson was there to see it all. In the aftermath of killing Arthur, the tarot Alchemist, Evie realizes that a war is brewing between the other teens that, following the apocalypse, have been given powers and its kill or be killed.

Things get even more complicated when Evie meets Death, the mysterious, sexy Endless Knight. Somehow the Empress and Death share a romantic history - one that Evie can't remember, but Death can't forget. She is drawn to the Endless Knight, but is in love with Jack. Determined to discover why she's been granted these powers, Evie struggles to accept her place in a prophecy that will either save the world, or completely destroy it.

Why I'm Waiting?

I really enjoyed Poison Princess and I can´t wait to read Endless Knight because I´m intrigued about Death.

What book are you waiting this week?

Leave your WOW links

Don´t forget to enter my current giveaway:

September New Release Giveaway Hop (INTL) - HERE.

September 17, 2013

Review: Fire with Fire by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian

Title: Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn #2)
Author: Jenny Han y Siobhan Vivian
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release date: August 13th 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of Burn for Burn - here

When sweet revenge turns sour… Book two of a trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.

Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan. Work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But things didn’t exactly go the way they’d hoped at the Homecoming Dance.

Not even close.

For now, it looks like they got away with it. All they have to do is move on and pick up the pieces, forget there ever was a pact. But it’s not easy, not when Reeve is still a total jerk and Rennie’s meaner than she ever was before.

And then there’s sweet little Mary…she knows there’s something seriously wrong with her. If she can’t control her anger, she’s sure that someone will get hurt even worse than Reeve was. Mary understands now that it’s not just that Reeve bullied her—it’s that he made her love him.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls are up to the task. They’ll make Reeve fall in love with Lillia and then they will crush him. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

It seems once a fire is lit, the only thing you can do is let it burn...

I really loved Fire with Fire, is way better than the previous book and maybe because I already know the characters and where the plot is going more or less.

This book begins a few days after the ending of the previous book, and Lillia, Kate and Mary have to deal with the aftermath of their acts of revenge.They´re to some extent reassured that they haven´t been discovered for what they did to Reeve on the homecoming dance and they will not end up in jail. So they pretend to continue with their lives normally, only that Rennie is angry with Lillia and aims to make her life impossible. And Reeve doesn´t seems to have learned his lesson because he still haven´t apologizes to Mary, and he mistreat her so the girls are back together, to hurt Reeve the way he hurt Mary. So now the plan is to make him fall in love with Lillia and once she has achieved that, the plan is to break his heart in the same way that Mary's heart is broken.

But again not everything is according to their plan and the romance doesn´t turned out as they expected and this time they´re are the ones that end up burned and their sweet revenge ends up being bitter,

Overall, I loved this book! as I comment before Fire with Fire is much better than Burn for Burn, it´s a fun, fast paced read, with mystery and romance. With alternating viewpoints between the main characters, we can go slowly discovering the plot. The characters are great and although I had my doubts about the powers that Mary was beginning to develop, I honestly didn´t expect her revelation! I had to reread several of her chapters and I saw them with new eyes. And it has an ending that left me with my mouth hanging open and I´m eagerly looking forward to Ashes to Ashes. Fire with Fire is a contemporary novel tinged with paranormal and I highly recommend it!.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.