I know, I'm cutting it a bit close with only a couple more hours left until 2013 here in the UK but hey! I still have a little time to tell you all my three favourite songs of 2012 (this is going to be so hard!).
Okay, here goes people...
The first time I heard this song I instantly fell in love. I would marry this song. It's true that I listen to Ed Sheeran constantly but this song especially is lyrical genius and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.
"You were just a small bump unborn for four months then torn from life.
Maybe you were needed up there but we're still unaware as why."
I don't actually know if the album which this song is from was released this year (I think it was) but I only discovered this band in 2012 and I can safely say that they are one of my favourite bands. Their songs are all pretty much about the same thing but they're very inspirational.
"There was a house in a field on the side of a cliff
And the waves crashing below were just said to be a myth
So they ignore the warnings from the ships in the docks
Now the house on the cliff is the wreckage on the rocks"
This particular song is System... Meltdown by Enter Shikari
(EXPLICIT)
If you like this then definitely check out Stalemate by Enter Shikari...
"Previous wars make billionaires out of millionaires,
Todays wars make trilionaires out of billionaires
Tomorrows wars will fuel generations of hate, generations of hate"
Lastly, but most definitely not least, my favourite song of 2012 is probably this one simply because whenever I feel angry, whenever I feel like crying, this song seems to make me feel.. so much. This song is filled to the brim with emotion and I will probably always listen to it.
"No matter how many deaths that I die I will never forget
No matter how many lives that I live I will never regret
There is a fire inside of this heart and a riot about to explode into flames"
This, my friends, is Hurricane by Thirty Seconds To Mars
What about you guys? What are your favourite songs of 2012? What do you think of my choices? Please leave your views and own favourites in the comments below. :)
This year has been hectic, everything seemed to happen in 2012... the Olympics, amazing books, awesome music, my stressful exams, the takeover of Blackberrys and IPhones and even the supposed end of the world (which we all seemed to survive pretty well).
In tribute to the London Olympics, as I am British'n'all, here are my Top 3 books that I have read in 2012 Olympic-style:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen. As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen. Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.
I absolutely ADORED this book, I read it soon after it was released on January 24th 2012 and it remains one of the best books I've read in 2012. Yes, the cover drew me in but the actual content, the mythology, characters and plot made me keep reading. This is also one of the only paranormal books I've read where I was rooting for the MC to end up with the none-supernatural love interest in the love triangle. If you haven't read it already I would definitely recommend it!
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years—from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to the post-Taliban rebuilding—that puts the violence, fear, hope, and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives—the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness—are inextricable from the history playing out around them. Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart-wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love—a stunning accomplishment.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is absolutely amazing.
This book was published in 2007 and I read it five years later but if I'm being completely honest I probably would never have read this book at all if I didn't have to for my school book club. A Thousand Splendid Suns isn't exactly in my comfort zone when it comes to books, I'm more of a Young Adult sometimes dipping into New Adult kind of girl but after reading this book and loving it wholeheartedly I've started to read books I wouldn't even have considered before this. A Thousand Splendid Suns = A must read!
Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter. Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Yes. I have only just read the first Harry Potter book in 2012. If it's any consolation I loved it to teensy weensy pieces and it made my best book of 2012. :)
You've all probably read this book (a couple of hundred times over) and you don't need me to tell you what you already know. Harry Potter is most definitely a classic.
So, that's it! My top 3 books of 2012, it was hard to choose which books to pick because there were so many that I really, really enjoyed this year such as Deadly Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock and Easy by Tammara Webber (see? I couldn't help but sneak in a couple more awesome books!).
If there's a book that you particularly loved reading this year or if anybody has made a post about their best books of 2012 then I'd love to check them out so feel free to leave a link to your post or just the name of your beloved books in the comments! :)
Summary (from Goodreads): Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness. In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught. Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?
I'm going to start by talking about the cover because really, how can you not? Ummm.. awesome much?! I would not like to meet this girl in a dark alley, especially if she has those killer swords with her. (I am rambling about the UK cover by the way..) The expression, the pose, the perfect shades of blue, the way she's not wearing a flouncy dress that takes up the whole cover, everything, it's just perfect. I am in love with a book cover. And I didn't think I could get any weirder.
After spending a couple of hours minutes salivating over the cover I actually opened up the book to read. You know when you have to force yourself to wake up in the morning and you just keep telling yourself that you're only going to stay in bed for another couple of minutes but after half an hour you're still there and you only wake up when you're already dreadfully late? Yup, well that's what it was like for me when I was reading Throne of Glass, at 1 o'clock in the morning I was still convincing myself that I'd go to sleep after a couple of pages (I didn't). This book as a reading experience was amazing, so very hooking and enthralling.
The main character, Celaena Sardothien, is a strange (nice strange) mix of terrifying killer and teenage girl. I don't think I've ever read a book where the female character was a strong one capable of taking somebody's life AND was easily pleased by a pretty dress. For some people this may be unrealistic, they may ask why an assassin could ever want to wear clothes limiting their ability to fight but honestly, the fact that Maas was able to break the trend of a female character having to be either/or is good enough for me.
As well as Celaena the two characters you most come across in Throne of Glass are Prince Dorian and the Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall. Both characters form close bonds with Celaena which I expect will then turn into a full blown love triangle in the next two books. There isn't too much of a love triangle in this book, although there is definitely a hint of one, and actually, there isn't too much focus on the romance at all. Dorian and Chaol are each, in my opinion, awesome in their own way. Chaol is loyal, fierce, serious and understanding while Dorian is snarky, irritating, caring and.. he reads. I am natuarally biased towards Dorian because he's a READER (with a library holding more than a million books *gulp*) while Chaol is a fighter but I guess we'll just have to see how these friendships/relationships evolve in the sequel.
Speaking of the sequel, I really hope there is more explanation of the history of magic and how the banishing of it came to be. I would've liked to have had more of the magic, religion, beliefs explained in Throne of Glass. Also, one of the few things I would've liked a little differently in Throne of Glass is the fight scenes.. I like it when the action is detailed and more frequent.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Throne of Glass. I can't wait for the sequel mainly because I want more of Chaol, Dorian and Calaena but also for the beautiful writing and the fantasy world that I can't seem to get enough of.
One of my favourite bits from Throne of Glass: "Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back."
Music choice; My music choice, ladies and gents, is Easier To Run by Linkin Park. This song kind of shows the darkness that I would have expected Celaena to be like because of what she went through her whole life but also, I think it shows how much Celaena wants to forget about her past and change what she did to many people.
Summary (from Goodreads): A heartwarming story about an unlikely friendship forged between a straight-A, classical musician and a bad-boy guitar player told through notes, lyrics, texts, and narration.
Firstly, the summary for this book is pretty short but sums up really what does happen in Guitar Notes. This book is about a friendship about a seemingly perfect girl and lonely misunderstood boy.. and that's about it.
Usually in novels where you have opposites forming a friendship (which tends to evolve into romance I've noticed) there is some sort of big pressure from close ones or dramatic event that puts a big ol' strain on the friendship/romance which happens around the middle of the book. In Guitar Notes pretty much the whole book is about this blossoming friendship through notes then emails then texts then calls then in person to represent the evolution of said friendship... but the dramatic event? It happens and is solved in the last 40 or so pages of the novel.
I can't say I'm a very big fan of the.. event (look how hard I'm trying to keep this review spoiler free!) either, it didn't really fit. I guess for some people that's what thought is so good, the fact that you don't expect anything like this to happen after pages and pages of simple interactions between the two characters but that's exactly what I didn't really enjoy when reading Guitar Notes. I feel like it was too sudden for a book where I had grown used to being quite mellow and accepted was going to be a book with no real plot but a sweet message. Not only do I feel like the event (this no spoiler thing is difficult!) didn't fit, I also think it was solved too fast and easily to feel realistic and relatable.
Speaking of relatable, I find it hard to really understand characters and their feelings when the writing is in third person but as a whole Guitar Notes being written in third person actually worked really well and I appreciate the way Amato was able to write a book, not in first person, and still make me feel attached to the characters.
Before I finish, although I tried VERY hard not to, I couldn't help but compare Guitar Notes to Forman's If I Stay simply because of the clear similarities of the cello playing girl, the guitar, the music, the loss of family, the opposites.. there was a lot of similarities actually! If I Stay is still one of my very favourite books so Guitar Notes with such similar ideas that I feel aren't executed as amazingly perfect as in If I Stay made me automatically disappointed. I wanted more intensity and heartbreak only because that's what I got from If I Stay. I know that it's unfair that I'm comparing the two books because Guitar Notes has a completely different tone and the book I feel is very carefree and light but I'm sure that I'm not the only person who read the two and compared them.
Overall, I liked the feel of Guitar Notes, the ideas of not having the obligation to live your parents dreams and the need to be yourself in a world of people trying to please others. The story is a sweet one and although the ending is a little too abrupt for my liking, I think it's a worthwhile book to read.
Music choice: It's always a little harder to pick a song for a book ABOUT music but... here you go, Live My Life by The Runaway State. I absolutely adore this song and I actually think it's a perfect match for Guitar Notes eg. Dear Tripp (the main guy character!), 'Don't worry about the people who don't understand you, They don't know a single-tiniest-littlest thing about you'
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
I know, I know, it's Christmas and everybody is taking a break but I have some free time and I like to think that I'm just a little bit awesome so... on Christmas day I have decided to bring y'all a teaser from a book I'm just about to start and am super excited about...
"Perhaps... perhaps she wanted to stay here for reasons other than her eventual freedom. That was one thing that hopeless assassin from Endovier would have never believed.
But it was true. She wanted to stay.
And that would make tomorrow so much harder."
page 341, Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah G. Maas
It's a book about assassins! How can you not be in love already? Anyways, this is what I'm reading on Christmas day... HAPPY CHRISTMAS by the way ;) Are you reading today too? Please do tell me what if you are reading and leave your teasers or links to your own Teaser Tuesdays in the comments below, I'd love to check them out.
Summary (from Goodreads) Harry Potter has never played a sport while flying on a broomstick. He's never worn a cloak of invisibility, befriended a giant, or helped hatch a dragon. All Harry knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to a wonderful place he never dreamed existed. There he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him...if Harry can survive the encounter. Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Firstly, I don't really know why I put a summary of the book in this review because if you haven't read this book then you have literally been living under a rock your whole life. Like me. But I have put the summary in this review because I can only hope that I wasn't weird and the only child deprived of wizards and potions. (Feel sorry for me.)
Anyway, there isn't much you can say about Harry Potter that hasn't been said hundreds of times over. This book is, in one simple word, magic. The fact that Rowling thought this all up, the world, the characters, the words is just astounding. I take my hat off (just FYI...I don't actually wear hats but if I did I would totally of taken the hat off...) to a woman who has created a fantasy world that is written about children and still captivated me so, very wholly.
When I told my friends I was finally going to read the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, after they did a little screaming, jumping and screaming while jumping, the first thing they said was that they were worried. They said that when they read Harry Potter now one of the biggest feelings they experience is nostalgia. They remember what it felt like to read Harry Potter with their mum/dad before they fell asleep, they remember the excitement of waiting with friends for the each installment to be released and the utter joy of devouring the book in a matter of hours. So, because they were worried, I was also worried but.. I didn't need to be because although I didn't feel the type of nostalgia they feel I did feel nostalgic while reading this book because of the innocence making me feel really innocent like a... young child. That's probably one of the things I loved most. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside.
Yes, this book isn't completely, completely perfect but it doesn't matter because this book is definitely enjoyable and will stay enjoyable for years to come.
Music choice: This song.. I don't know... this is my pick for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 'It must have been cold there in my shadow,
to never have sunlight on your face.' - for Ron.
The whole song can be interpreted in so many ways to fit this book, the way that everybody thinks of Harry, the way Harry remembers his parents but for me I think both the song and this book is mostly about friendship. Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler (first recorded in 1982 but Midler's performance of this is most fitting I think)
Okay, as hard as this may be to believe I am not re reading this book.. I have never read the Harry Potter books. (Shock! Horror!) So after a lot of people refusing to talk to me because of this fact and my curiousity about what it is that makes Harry Potter so amazing I am now currently reading the first HP book for the very first time. My expectations are so high and I'm nervous that I won't like it but at the moment I'm really enjoying it and I have a good feeling about this series.
So... enough about me, what about you? Is there anybody else who has never read Harry Potter? If you are, comment below and join my cult ;) Or are you, my friends, "Potterheads"? If so please do tell me what you like so much about Harry Potter AND what is your favourite book in the series?
Feel free to also leave your teasers or links to your own Teaser Tuesdays in the comments below, I'd love to see them all.
So wrong for each other...and yet so right. No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
Was I reading a different book to everybody else? Maybe I'm strange but I can't say I enjoyed this book. Let me explain...
This book tries so hard to cram in everything; a sizzling (I can not believe I just used the word 'sizzling') romance, a relationship problem with a controlling father, bipolar mother and babysitter-turned-pregnant step-mom, death of an older brother, death of two parents, traumatic experiences, near death situation, suppressed memory, insomnia, loss of only remaining family, the problems of the care system, the decision to whether or not lose your virginity and even friendship/school problems. There was too much, too many things going on and too many things, for me, weren't fully developed enough to make me love this book the way everybody else seems to.
On the back cover of my copy of Pushing the Limits it says 'A brave and powerful novel about loss, change and growing up, but most of all love' and I think that's the main reason Pushing the Limits just didn't do it for me, there was too much so called 'love' and not enough 'brave and powerful.. about loss'. Usually I'm all for a long sappy read about a bad boy and a good girl 'surprisingly' falling in love but this romance in Pushing the Limits was... (how do I say this?)... too serious too quickly to be a simple bad-boy-good-girl relationship. I think Echo and Noah 'fell in love' way too quickly for me to believe it. At first, although I cringed a lot at their mutual (and constant) lust for each others PERFECT bodies, their relationship and chemistry developed at a realistic and teasing pace that made me want to carry on reading however, about half way through the novel I started to really dislike the relationship.
As soon as the pair got together ('(Noah)"Tell me you chose me, Echo"' and 'Her eyes met mine again. "So what does this mean for us?" I lowered my forehead to hers. "It means you're mine") I couldn't stop bashing the book against the wall while screaming and cringing.
I can't handle books about possessive guys and Noah is possessive, his language actually quite sexist and degrading. Is it really necessary for him to call Echo 'baby' or refer to her as 'his nymph' and 'personal siren'? I feel bad for saying this because there were quite a few parts in Pushing the Limits where I found myself smiling because of his sweetness (the way Noah interacts with his brothers and Beth for example) but the way I felt when Noah called Echo 'his baby' reminded me of the way I felt when Travis called Abby his 'pigeon' in Beautiful Disaster, just you know, not nearly as bad as that.
As characters on their own I didn't have too big a problem with either of them, yes they were pretty cliche and I was a little bored of the predictability but their personal problems and ways of dealing with them were pretty hooking.
While Echo and Noah weren't, in my opinion, that awesome and the plot predictable and not as heart breaking or deep as you'd imagine, there were two.. actually, make that three characters that I really enjoyed reading about. The first two being Beth and Isaiah who I thought were characters that are more original and I feel would have made this book much more engaging if it had been centred around them. I have heard the sequel for this book will be about Beth's story which is why I will pick it up. I absolutely adored Isaiah and I hope there's more of him in the next book.
Also: Mrs Collins. There was just something great about this woman, she was Noah and Echo's therapist and I... loved her. Her character was understanding, reasonable, sarcastic and caring. She could not have been more perfect, she was always there like a guardian angel.. awwhr.
There were parts I liked, parts I tolerated and parts I thoroughly disliked so overall, this book was pretty average. I understand why many people loved this book but with Pushing the Limits trying to address so many issues I wanted less love story and more depth and exploration.
Music choice: It's pretty obvious that this is an opposites fall in love love story and it's meant to be really sweet and even I found some parts in Pushing the Limits where Noah and Echo's relationship was intense so... Collide by Howie Day
Series: I don't think this is part of series actually... If it is then it is the first book and if it isn't then it is another stand alone :) (I'm happy either way!)
Expected publication: January 22nd 2013 by EgmontUSA
Summary (from Goodreads):
There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away.
That’s why they make the perfect assassins.
The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.
Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.
I actually think I came across this novel through somebody else's "Waiting On" Wednesday! But I'm not surprised, I can't be the only person really excited for the release of this book.. it's written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes who happens to have written one of my favourite paranormal series' (Raised by Wolves) and the book is dystopian... and.. and it's about ASSASSINS IN A DYSTOPIAN SOCIETY!! How can you not be in love with that concept?!
The cover of this book is also without a doubt awesome and I truly will be counting down the days to the release of Barnes' Nobody. :)
What about you? What book are you desperate to get your hands on this week? Go ahead and leave the name and author of the book or a link to your own "Waiting On" Wednesdays in the comment section below - I'll be sure to check them all out :')
Okay, so that's the cover that's on my copy of Pushing the Limits but I really like the other cover too so I thought I'd share that with y'all...
Which cover do you like better? I like them both in different ways (I can say that, can't I? (: ) and also, the teaser! I'm intrigued, I haven't actually started this yet but I'm super excited now! I've been reading some really heavy books lately and I thought this would be a little lighter but by the looks of that teaser I can't exactly imagine this read being a fluffy, non-emotionally-draining one. I predict drama and lots of it.
What about you? What are you reading at the moment? Please do leave your teaser or a link to your own Teaser Tuesdays in the comments below, I'll definitely go and have a look. :')
Summary (from Goodreads) The Catcher in the Rye is the ultimate novel for disaffected youth, but it's relevant to all ages. The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the 'phony' aspects of society, and the 'phonies' themselves: the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection.
I was hesitant to read The Catcher in the Rye, simply because it is branded as a classic and I'm not known to pick them up. I don't why I don't tend to read classics voluntarily, I think it's because I don't like the fact that you're supposed to love them solely because of their classic status; the thing everybody assumes is genius because it has survived through time.
The Catcher in the Rye has no plot and the protagonist is really annoying and whiny and judgemental all the way through the novel.
I really liked this book though.
Although there really is no plot, it didn't matter. The book flows naturally, Salinger didn't try too hard to make this book interesting with an intricate story line, the thoughts and characters really speak for themselves. I think actually having a plot would have made been too much for this novel.
All The Catcher in the Rye is is a boy commenting on everything around him and about him over the period of a couple of days. And it is so, so interesting. I could not put this book down, it's addictive, thought provoking and actually, quite relatable. There were parts were I just thought 'YEAH, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!' and 'THIS IS CRAZY, IT'S LIKE YOU'RE IN MY HEAD!'.
eg.
'You can't stop a teacher when they want to do something. They just do it'
'How do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don't.'
Salinger creates a voice that is so honest and it feels as if Holden Caulfield is speaking to you and only you, as if you have a personal bond with this boy. It is actually quite insane. Yes, there were a lot of times where I thought Holden was really judgemental, calling people 'phonies' for being human. I think, not everybody is perfect and always themselves but that's human nature and it did irritate me that Holden thought everybody inferior to him because they were 'phonies' but.. I guess that's what makes him such an interesting and honest protagonist.
Overall, The Catcher in the Rye is definitely a worthwhile read. I don't think it's the best book in the world and if you get bored easily this probably isn't the best choice for you. Usually this wouldn't be a read for me but I really did enjoy reading The Catcher in the Rye and there are ideas and thoughts in this novel that I can I see myself remembering for a long time.
Music choice:'The future still looks good And you've got time to rectify All the things that you should Do what you want to do And go where you're going to Think for yourself'
Half of these lyrics sound like they're what Holden would say and half of them are what people were telling him. This is Think For Yourself by The Beatles
Summary (from Goodreads): A bonus story about Liam and Helena and how they met.
Yeeaah, that summary doesn't tell you much but basically this is a prequel of the Drake Chronicles about how 'Liam and Helena met'. It's quite sad that Lost Girls doesn't have a cover of its own, just a lowly badge on the front of the Blood Moon cover (its the thing I've stuck a load of arrows around xD) but here you go..
A quick review for a quick read.
This novella is a sweet little addition to the Drake Chronicles and I really did love it. I've always liked the way Liam and Helena were portrayed in the books but I never really thought of them as anything but Solange and her brothers' parents so it was a bit strange reading about the two of them at a young age.
The romance was a little insta-lovey but the overall effect of it was cute so I didn't mind too much. The characters really just made this novella for me, I couldn't stop smiling. I'm assuming that there were parts that were supposed to be quite tense and dramatic but because I knew everything would turn out all right in the end and nobody wasn't to go and, you know, die I wasn't constantly on the edge of my seat.
Even though the book didn't exactly have its desired effect on me, I would definitely recommend Lost Girls to anybody who enjoys the Drake Chronicles. And the great thing about this novella is that you can read it whenever, you don't have to have read all of the released books in the series.
Overall, Lost Girls doesn't really add anything plot wise to the series but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Music choice: Helena and Liam are polar opposites, their personalities and characteristics are so different. This is why I've picked When The Day Met The Night by Panic! At The Disco. 'When the moon fell in love with the sun..' Also, the song's quite cute and catchy. :)
Expected Publication: February 14th 2013 by Simon & Schuster UK
Iris Dancy’s free-spirited mum has left for Tunisia, her dad’s rarely sober and her brother’s determined to fight anyone with a pair of fists.
When a family of travellers move into the overgrown paddock overnight, her dad looks set to finally lose it. Gypsies are parasites he says, but Iris is intrigued. As her dad plans to evict the travelling family, Iris makes friends with their teenage son. Trick Deran is a bare knuckle boxer who says he’s done with fighting, but is he telling the truth?
When tools go missing from the shed, the travellers are the first suspects. Iris’s brother, Sam, warns her to stay away from Trick; he’s dangerous, but Iris can no longer blindly follow her brother’s advice. He’s got secrets of his own, and she’s not sure he can be trusted himself.
Infinite Sky is a family story about betrayal and loyalty, and love.
Okay, so I'll be the first to tell you all that judging a book by its cover is completely natural for readers - that's the whole point of covers; to get you interested and wanting to read the synopsis and eventually, the whole book. I judge books by their covers all the time so it's a good thing the cover for Infinite Sky is pretty freaking awesome. :)
Also, I absolutely adore contemporary books especially when they touch topics that I haven't read about yet. There's actually quite a lot of prejudice against travellers where I live and I'm really interested in the thoughts that go through people's heads that makes them justify not liking a type of person. Overall this novel sounds awesome, just the kind of gem I'd pick up from a pile of books. :)
So, what is it for you this week? What are you anticipating? Please feel free to share the title and author of the novel you're most excited for or a link your own "Waiting On" Wednesdays in the comments below - I check them all out. xD
That was a pretty short teaser - sorry! This book is the fifth in the Dark Secrets series but I don't actually think any of the books are related apart from the mutual genre of the books (mystery!). SO, if you haven't read any of the Dark Secrets book and are interested in this particular one, then you could just start with The Back Door of Midnight (or start with the first, if you want to be boring ;) ).
Anyway, how about you? What book are you currently reading and what teaser have you got in store for the rest of us? Please do leave your teasers or the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays in the comments, I'd love to see them.
So it hit me that I should probably add a summary of the novel to my reviews so if you haven't actually read the book you know what I'm talking about. This is what most people think of before they start a reviewing blog but, hey! I'm getting there.. slowly.
What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?
Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod. In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?
This sounds pretty kick ass, right? After reading the synopsis of I Hunt Killers which told me I'd be reading a typical Nancy Drew whodunnit novel with the not so typical and awesome twist of having the usually wholesome teen be the offspring of a serial killer, I was excited, to say the least. You know what? I was insanely excited. So, I had high expectations as you can imagine.
I can't say those expectations were met.
I thought the book would be filled with angst, a lot of battling inner demons and trying to fight the darkness (that sounds cheesy but, yeah, darkness) that was threatening to take control of Jazz, the-son-of-the-serial-killer. In I Hunt Killers, there was angst, but not the kind of angst you'd expect. In reality there was a whole lot of annoying, teenage angst.. the type you'd expect from any typical teenage boy who's coping with school, nagging parents and hormones. As for battling inner demons? There was a bit of it, a couple of creepy nightmares and Billy's (The Dad.) voice in Jazz's head at sporadic intervals throughout the novel. The proper trying to suppress the evil, views and thoughts Jazz was supposed to have grown up with.. there wasn't much of that at all. In the novel Jazz is seventeen years old so it would have been only his dad and him for the first thirteen years of his life, that's a lot of indoctrination to get rid of in only four years.
Four years just isn't enough time to forget, for Jazz or the people around him. I was expecting Jazz to simply be The Son of the Serial Killer, I was expecting a lot of prejudice towards Jazz, people judging him and keeping their distance and everyone only really seeing his father, not Jazz himself, when they looked at him. Even though Jazz obviously wouldn't have been to blame, humans aren't exactly known to be rational when directing their anger. And their would have been A LOT of anger about a guy murdering in his 'triple digits'. Also, what I don't understand is why Jazz wasn't relocated, given a different name, a fresh start or at least moved to a different area.
The whole of this novel to put it bluntly, wasn't believable. Not only this but I can't say I liked Jazz or any of the other characters very much either. For a while, I was really enjoying the character of Jazz's girlfriend, Connie but then she went all crazy on me and decided to showcase her trust and love for Jazz while he was telling her he could easily KILL HER.
No, just no.
One of the biggest problems I had with I Hunt Killers was the way everything was quite predictable story line wise and it all kind of ended neatly with just enough loose ends to write a sequel. Speaking of the sequel, is there any need for it? I honestly think I Hunt Killers would have been fine as just a stand alone novel if the author hadn't added the pretty unnecessary part in the end which makes I Hunt Killers need a sequel.
I can't really see myself reading book number two although there were a parts of I Hunt Killers I really did enjoy reading like Howie (Jazz's best friend) and his relationship with Jazz and the dreams and flashbacks of Jazz's life with Billy but for the most part... I wasn't a fan of I Hunt Killers.
Music choice: I was expecting inner demons. Evil. Darkness. Everything Seven Devils by Florence + The Machine is.
