April 30, 2015

Review: Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman


Title: Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke (Prisoner of Night and Fog #2)
Author: Anne Blankman
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: April 21st 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of Prisoner of Night and Fog - here
The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: She used to be part of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. More than a year after she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich, she lives with a kindly English family, posing as an ordinary German immigrant, and is preparing to graduate from high school. Her love, Daniel Cohen, is a reporter in town. For the first time in her life, Gretchen is content.

But then, Daniel gets a telegram that sends him back to Germany, and Gretchen’s world turns upside-down. And when she receives word that Daniel is wanted for murder, she has to face the danger she thought she’d escaped-and return to her homeland.

Gretchen must do everything she can to avoid capture and recognition, even though saving Daniel will mean consorting with her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as they work to clear Daniel’s name, Gretchen and Daniel discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and get out in time-or will Hitler discover them first? 

The good or bad about a fiction novel that takes place in a historical period that is well known is that from the beginning you know how it will end or what will happen with some famous historical person. Well this is what happened to me when I was reading Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke, because the main character Gretchen grew within the circle of friends of Adolf Hitler, in fact for her he was "Uncle Dolf," so she loved him and had much respect about his beliefs or doctrines about everything bad in Germany, whether the Jews, or the communists etc. so when she falls in love (in the first book) with Daniel, a Jew, she becomes an undesirable person, a traitor of the blood that´s why her life is in danger, and she should never cross Hitler´s path again.

Gretchen has lived in England for the past seventeen months, along with Daniel; so both are safe, or at least that is until Daniel receives a telegram and he must return to Germany and once there he´s accused of murder, so when Gretchen receives this news she must decide what to do, whether to stay in the safety of England with his new foster family and leave her boyfriend to his fate or to return to Germany and look for him, even though she knows it's very dangerous for her if she´s discovered by Hitler, and this time he has power, because she recently became the Chancellor of Germany.

All the plot unfolds in 1933 Berlin, amid a murder which should clarify the main characters if they want to clear Daniel´s name and the mystery around it. Plus they should do it in a Berlin that is gaining more presence of the SA (the Nazi militia) and through various historical events that will give Hitler more power, something that Gretchen and Daniel want to stop.

Daniel is an idealistic young journalist who believes that if he finds the reason for the murder of which he was accused and the truth about other things related to it, he believes that this knowledge will make a difference in the world and others will see Adolf Hitler for whom he really is, and somehow stop him. There are several times when several characters doubt that Hitler can achieve what he wants to do, which despair me as a reader, because many of the things they doubt he can achieve actually happened.

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke is a very good second book, I really enjoyed, even more than its predecessor, I really liked the element of murder mystery and suspense; plus it has a very good ending. I highly recommended this duology for historical fiction novels fans.

April 29, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday(170): Hello, I Love You

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


Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout 
Release date: June 9th 2015
A teen escapes to a boarding school abroad and falls for a Korean pop star in this fun and fresh romantic novel in the vein of Anna and the French Kiss.

Grace Wilde is running—from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start.

She wants nothing to do with music, but when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame. She can't stand Jason, whose celebrity status is only outmatched by his oversized ego, but they form a tenuous alliance for the sake of her friendship with Sophie. As the months go by and Grace adjusts to her new life in Korea, even she can't deny the sparks flying between her and the KPOP idol.

Soon, Grace realizes that her feelings for Jason threaten her promise to herself that she'll leave behind the music industry that destroyed her family. But can Grace ignore her attraction to Jason and her undeniable pull of the music she was born to write? Sweet, fun, and romantic, this young adult novel explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process.

Why I'm Waiting?
I´m interested in seeing how a kpop singer is portrayed because my daughter is obsessed with kpop music right now.

What book are you waiting this week?
Leave your WOW links 

April 28, 2015

AN EMBER IN THE ASHES Release Day Blitz + Giveaway


I am so excited that AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir releases today and that I get to share the news, along with a special introduction from Sabaa herself!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Sabaa Tahir, be sure to check out all the details below.
This blitz also includes a giveaway for a signed copies of the book and some of those awesome sword letter openers we’ve seen around courtesy of Sabaa, Penguin Teen, and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.


A letter from Sabaa Tahir.

Dear Readers,

Today, my “baby” AN EMBER IN THE ASHES is finally out in the world! From inception to pub date, this journey took eight years. And what a journey it was: writing, rewriting, revising, editing, querying, submitting; Meeting other debuts, bloggers, booksellers and librarians, and hearing their thoughts on EMBER. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the radness.

And now, the book is here! I am so excited to see it in the hands of readers. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. To celebrate release day, I’m giving away two signed, first-edition hardcovers of the book. Details below!

All my best,

Sabaa

Title: AN EMBER IN THE ASHES
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Pub. Date: April 28, 2015
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 464
Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.


Check out the book trailer!




About Sabaa:
Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.





Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive a signed hardcover of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES. US Only.

3 winners will receive a hardcover of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES and a Sword Letter Opener! US Only.

Ends on May 9th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


April 27, 2015

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

The replaced it was an okay sequel to The Taking trilogy; some question get its answers but I need to think about it before I write my review. This is a YA sci-fi novel.

Magic Burns is a very good second book, I like this series so far. This is an adult urban fantasy novel.

Currently reading


What I´m going to read next?

What are you reading today? 
Leave me your links!

April 25, 2015

Review: Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby


Title: Things We Know by Heart
Author: Jessi Kirby 
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: April 21st 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.

After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all.

Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains at stake.

This is the second book I´ve read written by Jessi Kirby and I´ve liked both, but Golden is still my favorite. Things We Know by Heart is a YA contemporary romance novel about second chances (and miscommunication).

The story is told from the point of view of Quinn, a girl that put her life on "pause" and for the last year she has been in mourning because of the death of her boyfriend Trent and what has helped her a little in her grief is to accompany Trent´s mother to meet and talk with the recipients of his donated organs, so far she had meet almost everyone, but she had not met the recipient of his heart, and despite having sent a letter requesting to meet him, she has not received any response.

And not for a twist of fate she meets Colton, the receiver of Trent heart and from the start there is a connection between them, to which Quinn initially resists, because for obvious reasons she doesn´t tells him that she knows about his heart transplant and that she was the girlfriend of the donor, creating a tangle of complications from which she can not undone, because although she wants to tell him the truth there is something that stops her, causing more problems.

So in the end the main problem between Colton and Quinn is the lack of communication and that both keep things/secrets from each other. And this issue after a while it became tiresome, because as a reader you know that the more secrets are between a couple (or attempted couple), when the truth comes to light ... if it comes to light ... .will blow up in their face.

Things We Know by Heart is beautifully written and although the plot is not original it´s interesting and the message is about second chances, plus it has a cute and sweet romance (with its obvious complications).

April 22, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday(169): The Rest of Us Just Live Here

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

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Release date: October 6th 2015
What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshiped by mountain lions.

Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable. 


Why I'm Waiting?
I still haven't read anything from this author and this book sounds interesting, so I may give it a try.

What book are you waiting this week?
Leave your WOW links 

April 21, 2015

Review: All the Rage by Courtney Summers


Title: All the Rage
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release date: April 14th 2015
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
The sheriff’s son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything—friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy’s only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous.But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn’t speak up. Nobody believed her the first time—and they certainly won’t now — but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.

With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women after an act of sexual violence, forcing us to ask ourselves: In a culture that refuses to protect its young girls, how can they survive?

All the Rage is a name that aptly describes what made me feel this book because it deals with the emotional consequences and repercussions of the sexual abuse of a girl, this is a powerful, raw and sad story.

The story begins with Romy attending her senior year without friends and being a victim of bullying by her classmates and old friends, because in the previous school year she was sexually abused by the golden boy, the son of Sheriff, he belongs to a powerful family and is the older brother of one of the most popular kids at her grade, so after she was raped, nobody believed in her and all of her friends turned their backs on her. So now, she goes to school trying to go unnoticed and she only wants to finish hers senior year without further problems, so she seeks refuge at her part-time job as a waitress in a restaurant in a nearby town, where nobody know her and where she can interact with other people, without been a target. And her life goes on like that until one day, a classmate disappears from a party and Romy must decide what to do with what she knew in her last conversation with her.

This book made me feel helplessness, anger, sadness, especially when no one believes in Romy, no one! .... And what made me more sad is how her parents react to the news and see how the sheriff's turns her in to a persona non-grata and how she isn´t safe of bullying in her town. Also as Romy sees herself as a dead girl.

There are some good secondary characters as well as villains and some who don´t know which side to take, but the main plot is Romy´s life after her sexual assault and how it changes again when Penny disappears and the mystery surrounding the events that happened the day she disappeared. It also has a bit of romance, but the story does not focus on it.

All the Rage is a raw, brutal, real and emotional contemporary novel. I highly recommended it. I´ll definitely read other books written by Courtney Summers.

Quotes
....how do you get a girl to stop crying?
You cover her mouth.

You know all the ways you can kill a girl? God, there are so many.

I don´t want sorry. It doesn´t bring dead girls back.

Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created bThe Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors
(in no particular order)
Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Sense and Sensibility are in my all time favorites classics, I love this books, especially Pride and Prejudice. At one time I was so obsessed with it that I also bought the tv series (Colin Flirt) and the movies to add to my collection. 


J.K. Rowling : I love the Harry Potter series! is one of my all time favorites, but so far I´ve only read this series written by her.

 Kelley Armstrong: She´s one of my auto-buy authors, I just love her books and so far I´ve read Women of the Otherworld series plus novellas and short stories but not all of them (Adult), The Darkest Powers trilogy and short stories (YA), The Darkess Rising trilogy and short stories (YA) and Sea of Shadows from her new-ish YA trilogy. 
I also own Omens from her new-ish adult series but I haven´t read it yet.


Richelle Mead: I love Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series, but I have yet to read her adult series.


Melina Marchetta: I love her contemporary books and Jellicoe Road is on of my all time favorites. I also own the first two ebooks of her fantasy trilogy but I haven´t read it yet.

Rae Carson : I love her Fire and Thorns trilogy and can´t wait to read more of her books.


Stephanie Perkins : I still need to read Isla and HEA, but I LOVE her first two books, it has such memorable characters. 


Julie Kagawa: I love her books! so far I ve read The Iron Fey series and short stories, two books from the Call of the Forgotten trilogy and I LOVE The Immortal Rules trilogy!

Sherrilyn Kenyon: I love her Adult Dark-Hunterverse books, I own almost all of them and the first five books of the Chronicles of Nick series (YA), that are from the same universe.

J.R. Ward: I love her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and can´t wait to read her new series - Black Dagger Legacy, that takes place in the same universe.


What are your ALL TIME Favorite Authors?
Leave me your links!

April 20, 2015

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

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke is a good sequel and conclusion (I´m not sure if this is the final book but it felt like it) to the Prisoner of Night and Fog series/duology(?). It´s set in 1933 Berlin, in a time when the Nazis are getting power over the government and it´s the most dangerous place for Gretchen, she used to belong to Hitler´s inner circle but now she´s in his hit list and Daniel is a Jew trying to solve a murder.

Currently reading


What I´m going to read next?


What are you reading today? 
Leave me your links!