November 13, 2013

Review: Six Months Later by Natalie Richards


Title: Six Months Later
Author: Natalie Richards
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: October 1st 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
Chloe didn't think about it much when she nodded off in study hall on that sleepy summer day. But when she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her.

What happened to her?
And why can't she remember?

This is a very good YA mystery book, throughout all the story it kept me guessing the why?, when?, how?, etc. and I could never guess what had happened to her until the very end, in fact once I finished reading it, I had to reread some parts of the firsts chapters and I definitely saw them with new eyes.

Six Months Later tells the story of Chloe a girl who is in her junior year, has she doen´t have the best grades and the truth is that she isn´t very interested in excelling academically and one day she falls asleep in class and when she wakes up she realizes that she´s in the same spot in the classroom but she´s wearing a different outfit, it's night and six months has passed. She´s obviously disoriented and is in the midst of finding out what's going on when she meets with Adam, a classmate with whom she has never spoken a word, he has a bad reputation and apparently she called him to talk about something she does not remember. To add to all the strange things that are happening, she learns that's now she´s Blake´s girlfriend, the boy to whom she had has a big crush for a long time and apparently she´s also a brainy because she got an excellent SAT scores, so now she could be accepted at any college she wants.

But not everything is as wonderful as it seems, because her best friend Maggie doesn´t want to talk with her, does n´t want her around and she doesn´t know why?; Also Chloe realizes that she feels nothing for her super-intelligent-mega-handsome boyfriend, she always dreamed about been Blake´girlfriend, actually she was kind of obsessed with him but now she´s having feelings for Adam, the bad boy with a very bad reputation.

What I really liked about this book is that I had some crazy theories about to where the story was going, but the truth is that I didn´t guess what was going on for most of the book. The plot is really good and in the end the fact that Chloe does not remember what happened to her for the past 6 months of her life is believable. I liked the romance that develops between Chloe and Adam, since it is obvious that there is chemistry between them, whereas with Blake she does not feel the same as for Adam. Six Months Later is a very good book and that´s worth reading .

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

November 11, 2013

Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund


Title: Across a Star-Swept Sea (For Darkness Shows the Stars #2)
Author: Diana Peterfreund 
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date:
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

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Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever.

Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect.

In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.

I been dying to read this book since I saw it, I love the cover and the synopsis sounds very interesting and I have read great reviews about For Darkness Shows the Stars, the previous book, so my expectations were sky high and I do not feel disappointed. Across a Star-Swept Sea is a retelling or reinterpretation of The Scarlet Pimpernel, a classic that I haven´t read yet.

Before reading this book, I read the prequel or short story: The First Star To Fall (is FREE), and I really enjoyed it a lot, because although they are only 34 pages, it allowed me to learn a little more about Persis Blake to meet her before she became the Wild Poppy  and what was to drive her to became a spy, she is portrayed as a very smart girl who is against injustice and despite being of the aristocrat, she´s not willing to stay with her ​​arms crossed and do nothing.

In Across a Star-Swept Sea, Persis Blake is the lady in waiting of Princess Isla and she´s considered a hollow and dumb girl, that she´s just concerned about fashion and to look beautiful and gossiping with other aristocrats at the court. But that´s just a cover, because she is a spy, whose purpose is to rescue the prisoners from the island of Galatea that have been "reduced" (they were administered a drug that affects their brain) and are transported to the Island of Albion for shelter and treatment. Only a small group of Persis´s friends know of her activities as a spy and they´re part of her team.

So when the Galatean Justen Helo, comes to the Island of Albion seeking asylum, Princess Isla decides that she doesn´t want a conflict with their neighbors from the Island of Galatea, so he must pretend to be madly in love with Persis Blake something that neither of them want to do but they end up pretending been in a relationship for the sake of appearances. So while pretending be in love with Justen, Persis must maintain her clandestine activities and ensure that no one discovered her secrets.

This book is seen from multiple points of view, but Persis´s and Justen´s are the main POVs, I usually don´t like so many POVs but this time it work for me because I could see what was thinking and feeling Justen, and how slowly he began to have romantic feelings for Persis and I liked that it wasn´t an insta-love. And I also liked the villain´s POV.

Overall, this is a beautifully written book, I really enjoyed it, despite not having read For Darkness Shows the Stars, but I do know that some of the characters of the previous book made a cameo in this book, so now I will be looking forward to read For Darkness Shows the Stars, because and I was intrigued by their story. Also I liked the world building of Across a Star-Swept Sea, it was a technologically advanced world and I felt that it is necessary to read its prequel The First Star To Fall, to understand more this world, what´s Reduction and its source. And about the ending of this book .... it´s a good ending but it was a little open for my liking (I don´t like open endings), so I hope there is another book and I get to see a cameo of Persis and Justen in that book.

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

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
I really liked them a lot, they´re great books and The Naturals was a good surprise for me I didn´t expect it to be that good. Reviews to come.

What I´m going to read next? 


What are you reading today? 
Leave me your links!

Have a great week!

November 8, 2013

Review: Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London


Title: Definitely, Maybe in Love
Author: Ophelia London
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
Release date: October 28th 2013
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N
Spring Honeycutt wants two things: to ace her sustainable living thesis and to save the environment. Both seem hopelessly unobtainable until her college professor suggests that with a new angle, her paper could be published. Spring swears she’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that happens.

“Whatever it takes,” however, means forming a partnership with the very hot, very privileged, very conceited Henry Knightly.

Henry is Spring's only hope at publication, but he's also the über-rich son of a land developer and cash-strapped Spring’s polar opposite. Too bad she can't help being attracted to the way he pushes her buttons, both politically and physically. As they work on her thesis, Spring finds there's more to Henry than his old money and argyle sweaters…but can she drop the loud-and-proud act long enough to let him in? Suddenly, choosing between what she wants and what she needs puts Spring at odds with everything she believes in.

Definitely, Maybe in Love is a modern take on Pride and Prejudice that proves true love is worth risking a little pride.

The first thing that appeal to me about this book was the cover ( I really like black and white images with some color to highlight something ) and then I read that this one was a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and I was sold! I knew that I had to read this book, because that is my favorite classic. Definitely, Maybe in Love is a very good reinterpretation of Pride and Prejudice and the characters manage to capture what I liked about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

On one hand we have Spring Honeycutt a girl in her junior year of college, she has three jobs, plus two scholarships to help her pay her tuition at Stanford, there she´s studying Environmental Earth Science and to be taken seriously and stand out among her classmates the previous year she changed her image, now her hair is full of small braids (I picture her as Bo Derek at the movie "10"), she became a vegetarian and participates in all rallies or demonstrations related with the environmentalists. She lives with two roommates (Julia and Anabel) near campus.

Meanwhile Henry is smart, arrogant but not a jerk, he´s a grad student from Duke University and now is attending to Stanford, he comes from a very wealthy family, his family owns land all over the United States, he´s studying to be a lawyer and almost always wears suits or argyle sweaters. I really loved Henry! he´s a great character.

They are polar opposites but end up working together in Spring´s thesis, because her professor told her that she needed a different approach, not only the point of view of the environmentalist but also the financial side, of which she doesn´t know a thing, so Henry ends offering his help with her research, and because of this they end up spending time together and more than once discussed/fight because of their different views of the issue, but despite this both are attracted to each other, although they aren´t so obvious about it.

The story is told from the point of view of Spring, so we only see her thinking and her struggle with herself when she starts having feelings for Henry.

Overall, Definitely, Maybe in Love is a very sweet and swoon worthy romance novel that retells the story of Pride and Prejudice in modern day, and even though it left some characters out ( such as Mr. Collins and Spring´s parents), but I feel that it covered most of the story and this book has a twist that I was not expecting and I´m still not sure whether it was beneficial or not for the plot, but definitely surprised me. This is a New Adult novel, but on the contrary of many books from this genre it doesn´t contains sex scenes, which I liked. I recommend this book for fans of Pride and Prejudice and romantic contemporary novels .

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

November 6, 2013

Waiting On Wednesday (98): The Winner's Curse

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 Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 
Release date: March 4th 2014 
In the tradition of Kristin Cashore and Cassandra Clare comes this brilliant, unputdownable, star-crossed romance about the curse of winning.

Seventeen-year-old Kestrel is an aristocratic citizen of Valoria, a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers. Here, a girl like Kestrel has two choices: join the military or get married. Despite her skills in military strategy, Kestrel’s real passion is music.Which is why she feels compelled to buy Arin, a slave with a talent for singing, at auction. It’s not long before she finds herself falling in love with Arin, and he seems to feel the same for her. But Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for Arin is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a new world, The Winner’s Curse is a story of wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

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

November 5, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday (23): Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

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

 Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On
(in no particular order)

1. The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead
2. Secret (Elemental #4) by Brigid Kemmerer
5. Split Second (Pivot Point #2) by Kasie West

6. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer
7. Burn (Pure #3) by Julianna Baggott 
8. Sunrise (Ashfall #3) by Mike Mullin
9. Ashes to Ashes (Burn for Burn #3) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian 

¿What sequels are you looking forward to read?
Leave me your links!

Cover Reveal: The Collection by Shannon Stoker

 
Image Map

November 4, 2013

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 Countdown by Michelle Rowen and Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London. 
Countdown was okay but I didn´t like it as much as I was though. 

Definitely, Maybe in Love is a Pride and Prejudice retelling (a classic that is a favorite) and I really enjoyed it!.

Currently reading

What I´m going to read next? 



What are you reading today? 
Leave me your links!

Have a great week!

November 2, 2013

Stacking the Shelves (30) October

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga´s Reviews, which showcases the books we've purchased, won, borrowed and received in the mail.


These are the books in my shelves from the past month.


FOR REVIEW
Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott
Taste of Darkness (Healer #3) by Maria V. Snyder
Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London
Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3) by Veronica Rossi
Darkest Fear (Birthright #1) by Cate Tiernan
Only Everything (True Love #1) by Kieran Scott

Thank you very much to Harlequin MIRA, Harlequin Teen, Entangled: Embrace, HarperCollins, Simon Pulse, Edelweiss and Netgalley for the egalleys.


BOUGHT
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

FOR MY KINDLE
Winger by Andrew Smith
Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo

Come Alive (Experiment in Terror #7) by Karina Halle
The Devil's Metal (Devils #1) by Karina Halle
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

FREEBIE
Tyger Tyger (Goblin Wars #1) by Kersten Hamilton 


What books did you get?
Leave me your link in the comments.