September 30, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday (189): The Anatomical Shape of a Heart

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 Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett 
Release date: November 3rd 2015
Artist Beatrix Adams knows exactly how she's spending the summer before her senior year. Determined to follow in Leonardo da Vinci’s footsteps, she's ready to tackle the one thing that will give her an advantage in a museum-sponsored scholarship contest: drawing actual cadavers. But when she tries to sneak her way into the hospital’s Willed Body program and misses the last metro train home, she meets a boy who turns her summer plans upside down.

Jack is charming, wildly attractive . . . and possibly one of San Francisco’s most notorious graffiti artists. On midnight buses and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who Jack really is—and tries to uncover what he’s hiding that leaves him so wounded. But will these secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in Beatrix’s own family’s closet tear them apart?
Why I'm Waiting?
Because it sounds really good and I´ve seen that is getting good reviews on goodreads.

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

September 29, 2015

Review: The White Rose by Amy Ewing


Title: The White Rose (The Lone City #2)
Author: Amy Ewing
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: October 6th 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of The Jewel - here
Violet is on the run. After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the Palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death. So along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude.

But no one said leaving the Jewel would be easy. As they make their way through the circles of the Lone City, Regimentals track their every move, and the trio barely manages to make it out unscathed and into the safe haven they were promised—a mysterious house in the Farm.

But there’s a rebellion brewing, and Violet has found herself in the middle of it. Alongside a new ally, Violet discovers her Auguries are much more powerful than she ever imagined. But is she strong enough to rise up against the Jewel and everything she has ever known?

The White Rose is a raw, captivating sequel to The Jewel that fans won’t be able to put down until the final shocking moments.

The White Rose starts exactly where the previous book ends up, the romance between Violet and Ash had been discovered, forcing them both along with Raven (Violet's best friend) to escape The Jewel with the help of an unlikely ally. Their goal is to reach the Farm, where they plan to hide and once there find out Lucien´s plans for Violet.

While the first book takes place mostly in the Jewel, which is the sector where the royals live now in this installment we get to know the other sectors or circles that make up the Lone City as they attempt to escape the bleak future that awaits them, the trio must traverse the Bank circle is where the merchant class lives and Smoke circles where the factories are and their workers live, to finally seek refuge in the Farm, and there is where Violet along with her companions find the answers to what is really happening in the Lone City, the fact that a rebellion is brewing and finally learn how she can help them.

Also in The White Rose we discovered a little more about the origins of the Lone City, and we get to know a little more about where the powers or gifts from the surrogates come from and how can these powers be used for something more than having the children of the royalty .

About the characters, I liked that Violet is stronger and more determined because now she´s literally running for her life and that of Ash and Raven, but I feel that what made her stronger was her desire to protect Raven, which is not doing very well. And the romance between Ash and Violet is still good and I liked that did not involve a third party to force a love triangle to come to wreak havoc between them. Lucien's character that intrigued me so much in the previous book finally informed Violet what are your expectations of the role that she´ll have in the rebellion. And other character that was a pleasant surprise as he grew and saw his true personality and I really liked him is Garnet.

Overall, The White Rose was a very good second book in a series or trilogy with several unexpected plot twists and with a cliffhanger that I hooked me and I´can´t wait to read the next book. I really enjoyed it.

September 23, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday (188): Ice Like Fire

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

Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch 
Release date: October 13th 2015
It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

Why I'm Waiting?
I really enjoyed Snow Like Ashes and I can´t wait to read what happens next.

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

September 22, 2015

Review: Menagerie by Rachel Vincent


Title: Menagerie (Menagerie #1)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Publisher: MIRA
Release date: September 29th 2015
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC
Reading level: Ages 18 and up

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent comes a richly imagined, provocative new series set in the dark mythology of the Menagerie…

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town.

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.

Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale.

Menagerie is the first adult book written by Rachel Vincent that I´ve read (I know she has other adult series), previously I´ve read her Young Adult series - Soul Screamers, which I enjoyed very much, because it introduced a mythological main character that regularly I do not find in YA books, so it was a pleasant surprise reading about the fantastic and mythological characters in this story.

Menagerie is a fantasy novel that takes place in a world similar to ours, or at least the United States has the same states but other countries are different, and this world is inhabited by humans and cryptids (they´re different types of supernatural such as minotaurs, centaurs, mermaids, werewolves, oracles, fairies, etc.) and years before the beginning of the story both races lived in harmony and the supernatural were citizens, but on a fateful day known to all as "the reaping" where many humans children were killed, due to this event the government decided to act against the cryptids and they lose their rights, so that today only the cryptids can be found in menagerie, or in private collections, and all of them are deprived of their freedom.

Delilah Marlow grew all her life thinking she was human, but on her twenty five birthday everything changes when she visits the menagerie with her boyfriend and friends, but when she sees the cruelty with which the cryptids treated, something awakens in her that makes her true self manifest, a creature that no one seems to recognize its origin and Delilah is arrested, stripped of her rights and sold as an unknown cryptid to the same menagerie where her creature manifested. there she will be displayed and treated like all the other "beasts". And there she´ll have to rely on Gallagher her handler and together try to discover what kind of creature she´s, besides being the only human in which she can rely.

Overall, Menagerie is a very original, dark, raw, full of fantasy book and it hooked me once I got the thread to the story (it took me a while to understand the world in which it develops), with good characters, some I liked and others I hated, definitely very entertaining. For those who like romance on their book, I have to inform that this first book of the series doesn´t have romance, because it focuses more on Delilah´s story and her journey.

Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR

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

Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR
(in no particular order)
I mentioned Me Before You These on my Summer TBR and Spring TBR post and Still haven´t read it and also I mentioned Scarlet on my Spring TBR post, so I hope to read them this year. 
These are the books that I planned to read this fall.

YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
The Demon King (Seven Realms #1) by Cinda Williams Chima

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis


ADULT BOOKS
The Rosie Effect (Don Tillman #2) by Graeme Simsion
Me Before You (Me Before You #1) by Jojo Moyes
Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #5) by Ilona Andrews

I also plan to read The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens and I Crawl Through It by A.S. King.


What books are on your fall TBR list?
Leave me your link in the comments.

September 21, 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 Immortal Heights (The Elemental Trilogy #3) de Sherry Thomas (4.5/5 stars)

I´m currently reading

What I´m going to read next?
Next I´m going to read some of these books, but I´m not sure yet which one I´m going to read first.

What are you reading today?
Leave me your links!

September 18, 2015

Review: Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson


Title: Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy #1) 
Author: Rae Carson
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release date: September 22nd 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
The first book in a new trilogy from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Rae Carson. A young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold must flee her home, taking her on a sweeping and dangerous journey across Gold Rush–era America.

Lee Westfall has a secret. She can sense the presence of gold in the world around her. Veins deep beneath the earth, pebbles in the river, nuggets dug up from the forest floor. The buzz of gold means warmth and life and home—until everything is ripped away by a man who wants to control her. Left with nothing, Lee disguises herself as a boy and takes to the trail across the country. Gold was discovered in California, and where else could such a magical girl find herself, find safety? Rae Carson, author of the acclaimed Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, dazzles with this new fantasy that subverts both our own history and familiar fantasy tropes.

Walk on Earth a Stranger, the first book in this new trilogy, introduces—as only Rae Carson can—a strong heroine, a perilous road, a fantastical twist, and a slow-burning romance. Includes a map and author’s note on historical research. 

From Rae Carson I´ve read her Fire and Thorns trilogy which I loved, so I could not wait to read another book from her and although this is different sub genre, I must say that I really enjoyed it and is a very good first book of a series/trilogy.

Walk on Earth a Stranger is a historical-paranormal novel that takes place during the gold rush of 1849 in the United States and follows the path of Leah "Lee" Westfall, a 15 years old girl at the beginning of the story. Leah is the daughter of a gold prospector nicknamed Lucky, because he has always been lucky find a good amount of gold on his property in Dahlonega, Georgia, but what nobody knows (only Leah's parents know) is that she has a "gift" for sensing/detecting gold and can easily find it.

And at the beginning of the story the people of Dahlonega receive the news that gold have been discovered in California so this cause buzz by residents of the town because they are debating with the possibility of making the trip to California and settle there. And due to an event that happens to Leah´s family, she decides to escape and make the perilous journey to California, and she decides to dress as a boy, because of all the dangers that she could face, in addition to not be right for a lady making the trip without a chaperon. So Leah (or Lee when she´s dressed as a boy) with some money embarks on a dangerous journey to California which will take several months by horse and boat, plus she´ll get a job assisting families during the travel to California. And during this trip Lee hopes to find her best friend Jefferson McCauley, whom traveled to California days before her.

Walk on Earth a Stranger is primarily a historical novel, as the paranormal element is minor, is in this installment only used to indicate that Leah is special and that in the environment where she lives, it could be dangerous if someone finds out about her secret. I really enjoyed it!

Book trailer

September 16, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday (187): The Great Hunt

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 Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins
Release date: March 8th 2016
Kill the beast. Win the girl.

A strange beast stirs fear in the kingdom of Lochlanach, terrorizing towns with its brutality and hunger. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.

Princess Aerity understands her duty to the kingdom though it pains her to imagine marrying a stranger. It would be foolish to set her sights on any particular man in the great hunt, but when a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention, there’s no denying the unspoken lure between them…or his mysterious resentment.

Paxton is not keen on marriage. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast and protecting his family—yet Princess Aerity continues to challenge his notions with her unpredictability and charm. But as past secrets collide with present desires, dire choices threaten everything Paxton holds dear.

Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ tale, “The Singing Bone,” New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins delivers a dark fantasy filled with rugged hunters, romantic tension, outlawed magic, and a princess willing to risk all to save her people. 

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

September 15, 2015

Top Ten Hyped Books I've Never Read

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

Top Ten Twelve Hyped Books I've Never Read
(in no particular order)

I just couldn´t mention 10 books for today´s topic, because there are so many books that I keep seeing everywhere, blogs and booktube and especially the ones that I mention in my Top Twelve I´ve heard a lot of hyped about them and I still have not read them.

MIDDLE GRADE & YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi
The Demon King (Seven Realms #1) by Cinda Williams Chima

The Maze Runner (The Maze Runner #1) by James Dashner
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

ADULT BOOKS
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

What hyped books you haven't read?
Leave me your link in the comments.

Which of these books do you recommend me to read first?

September 14, 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 White Rose (The Lone City #2) by Amy Ewing (4/5 stars)
Amityville Horrible (Otherworld Stories #10.8) by Kelley Armstrong (4/5 stars)

I´m currently reading

What I´m going to read next?
After I finished reading The Immortal Heights, I´m going to read some of these books, but I´m not sure yet which one I´m going to read first.

What are you reading today?
Leave me your links!

September 11, 2015

Review: One by Sarah Crossan


Title: One
Author: Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release date: September 15th 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
Tippi and Grace share everything—clothes, friends . . . even their body. Writing in free verse, Sarah Crossan tells the sensitive and moving story of conjoined twin sisters, which will find fans in readers of Gayle Forman, Jodi Picoult, and Jandy Nelson.

Tippi and Grace. Grace and Tippi. For them, it’s normal to step into the same skirt. To hook their arms around each other for balance. To fall asleep listening to the other breathing. To share. And to keep some things private. The two sixteen-year-old girls have two heads, two hearts, and each has two arms, but at the belly, they join. And they are happy, never wanting to risk the dangerous separation surgery.

But the girls’ body is beginning to fight against them. And soon they will have to face the impossible choice they have avoided for their entire lives.

One is a novel written in free verse, emotionally charged, sad and touching about two conjoined twin sisters. This is the first novel I've read that is written in verse, so that part was new for me and I really really enjoyed it tremendously.

Tippi and Grace are two 16 year old girls that all their lives have been home schooled, attended regularly to the doctor for check ups about their health, and visit often the psychologist, all of these have affected the economy of her family and for the first time in their life they´re going to public school, where they will make friends but also be mocked and misunderstood by their peers. Besides that one of the girls begins to have romantic feelings for one of her classmates, something she never saw as a possibility, due to the isolation in which they grew up, aside from their family, doctors and people they crossed paths on the street, they had no friends of their own age.

An also for the first time Tippi and Grace are forced to really contemplate the idea of ​​separation surgery because if they didn´t undertake such surgery it would have a great impact on their health.

The story is told in verse, from the viewpoint of Grace, which is the most friendly twin, which accepts the decisions of their parents and sister, without causing problems and is carried away by his Tippi, the twin with more character dominant.

One is beautifully written, it's a sad, touching, poignant, bittersweet novel, is one of those books that once you finish reading it you can not get it out of your head by the roller coaster of emotions that provoke on you. I highly recommended this contemporary novel.