Shadow, Shadow by V.B. Marlowe (The Shadow Pines Trilogy #1)

Original title: Shadow, Shadow

Year published: 2015

Published by: All Night Reads

Number of pages: 208

First sentence: “A girl is trapped in a box, only she doesn’t know that she’s trapped because the box is all she has ever known”

Plot:  "The four of you have been blessed with a great gift. Well, it's a gift for you, but a curse for someone else." Harley receives a mysterious gift on her sixteenth birthday--a shadow box. The box gives her the power to trade someone to the shadows, meaning they will disappear and cease to exist. Harley can't imagine doing such a horrible thing and is warned that using the box comes at a price. Unfortunately, not using the box can be even more costly. Harley must make this life-altering decision as she discovers frightening revelations about the town she calls home.

(From Goodreads)

My thoughts: I got this from NetGalley in exchange for a review. I chose this book because the plot looked interesting. Sure enough, it was. The whole shadows snatching people is really creepy. I’m sure I’ll be scared to be alone with my shadow from now on. So there are these four kids (yes, 16 year olds are kids); Harley, Brock, Teaghan and Gianna and they all share the same birthday. They all receive these Shadow Boxes, with these Shadow Boxes they can give people to the Shadows. Everyone except for Teaghan is reluctant to believe the stories they’ve been told and the powers of the Shadow Boxes. After Teaghan uses it for the first time things start going downhill and it quickly turns into a “kill or be killed” type of scenario. In the midst of all this Harley (who’s kind of the main character) has to deal with a stalker boyfriend and an evil stepmom. And what’s with this quarterly physicals where they’re injected with some sort of “flu” shot? And the shrink? Why is he giving Teaghan and Harley the same medication when one’s suffering from depression and the other headaches?

The scariest thing about this book is that all of the four kids has one family member who’s either missing or dead. Teaghan’s mother was murdered and Harley and Gianna’s mothers both just disappeared one day. Brock’s sister Sierra is also missing.

The writing may not have been the best and at times I thought things were a bit childish, but then again the book is marketed towards kids age 13 and up. Not sure if I qualify. But still the story was good and I want to read the next book which doesn’t even have a date set yet.

Goodreads rating 3/5

Do I recommend it? Yeah, maybe if you’re a younger reader.

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #2)

Original title: City of Ashes

Year published: 2008

Published by: Walker Books

Number of pages: 411

First sentence: “The formidable glass-and-steel structure rose from its position on Front Street like a glittering needle threading the sky.”

Plot: Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

(Plot taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts: First off, let me just say that I liked this book a lot better than the first one, probably because there were no movie connections to be made here. This was a really good thing and it meant that I could actually enjoy the book, which I did, very much.

A lot of things happen in this book, a lot of life changing things, for some people at least. Can we just take a minute to appreciate Simon? I mean what he goes through in this book and still he’s there for Clary. Simon, I love you.  Then there’s Jace, whom I of course also love but that’s beside the point. He is so hateable in this book, but still I have a lot of sympathy for him. He makes me so mad with his “no I can’t hate my father” crap, ugh. Seriously it is perfectly alright to hate Valentine, I sure as hell do. Say it with me: “I HATE VALENTINE”. There, that wasn’t so hard was it. The whole Valentine situation is so infuriating. Tricking Clary and Jace into believing they’re siblings is just horrible. They are so obviously in love with each other and it just makes reading most of the book weird, it makes me uncomfortable. Especially when they’re with the faerie Queen and she makes them kiss. I was screaming, really. Like why in the bloody hell would they react to each other that way physically if they truly believe that they are brother and sister? It makes no sense. And poor Simon. I feel so bad for him, although he seems okay with everything by the end of the book.

Also there’s Luke, who really steps up in this book. I love Luke. He’s such a nice guy and the way Clary’s like: “you’re not my father, Luke is” aaaaaaah, I loved that.

One thought that stuck with me while reading the book was:  “When the hell is it time for Jocelyn to wake up?” and by the end of this book we get an answer, maybe. So I can’t wait to get started on ‘City of Glass’.

And why didn't Imogen Herondale get to finish telling Jace the truth? Gaaaah! How long am I going to have to wait for Jace to finally know the truth. This is driving me crazy!

I love the Shadowhunter world. If I could I’d probably be one, that or a warlock, with a nice mark like Magnus’ eyes and not horns or green skin.

Do I recommend it? Yep.

Goodreads rating 4/5

Never Forgotten by Kelly Risser (Never Forgotten #1)

Original title: Never Forgotten

Year published: 2014

Published by: Clean Teen Publishing

Number of pages: 328

First sentence: “Meara, where are you?”

Plot: How can one day go so very wrong? One minute Meara Quinn is making plans for how she will spend the summer before her senior year and the next she's finding out that her mother's cancer has returned and they are moving away from the only home she's ever known.

Now every day is a struggle as Meara is trying to cope with her mother's illness, being forced to move to another country to live with grandparents—whom she thought disowned her mother—and having weird visions of a father who was absent her entire life. Top it all off with one whopping secret that everyone seems bent on keeping from her, and Meara has the perfect ingredients for a major melt down.

The only things keeping her from coming unglued are some new friends and Evan—the son of her mother's childhood friend—who seems to know Meara almost better than she knows herself.

Together with Evan and her friends, Meara embarks on a new journey to unlock the secrets that will not only tell Meara who she is, but what she is. How can one day go so very wrong? One minute Meara Quinn is making plans for how she will spend the Summer before her senior year and the next she's finding out that her mother's cancer has returned and they are moving away from the only home she's ever known.

Now every day is a struggle as Meara is trying to cope with her mother's illness, being forced to move to another country to live with grandparents—whom she thought disowned her mother—and having weird visions of a father who was absent her entire life. Top it all off with one whopping secret that everyone seems bent on keeping from her, and Meara has the perfect ingredients for a major melt down.

The only things keeping her from coming unglued are some new friends and Evan—the son of her mother's childhood friend—who seems to know Meara almost better than she knows herself.

Together with Evan and her friends, Meara embarks on a new journey to unlock the secrets that will not only tell Meara who she is, but what she is.

(Plot taken from Goodreads)

My thoughts: Okay, so at first I didn’t like it. I thought the language was a bit weird and the fact that the chapters were really short was a bit annoying. I also didn’t think that you got to know the characters well enough. After a while I learned you didn’t really need to. The story is great all though a bit obvious at some points. Absent dad, scared mom, it all seems like something I’ve read before, hell it even seems like something I’ve written before. Anyway, I was so sure this was going to be another book where the main character finds out she’s a mermaid or a siren or whatever. Meara obviously felt a pull toward the ocean as soon as she arrived in Peggy’s Cove and then there’s the whole deal with her feet. But was she a mermaid? No. She was- wait for it- a freakin’ seal! Or a Selkie as they’re apparently called. How amazing is that? I’m so glad she wasn’t a mermaid, that would have been seriously disappointing. I’ve read so many mermaid books, I mean don’t get me wrong, I love mermaids - one of my favorite book series has mermaids in it – but it just didn’t feel right this time. I was happy to learn she was just a girl who’s dad spent most of his time as a seal.

Okay so let’s talk about Evan for a minute. Such an amazing guy. If Meara doesn’t return for him I’d be more than happy to heal his heart. Hmm, yummy. Husband material that one.

I cried when I read this, yes I cried, seems to be happening a lot lately. There was this part where I just broke down, too many emotions at once. I’m not going to spoil it for you, as I fear I’ve already done with revealing the seal thing, sorry about that. It was just too big a part of the story to leave out.

So do I recommend it? Yeah, sure, it’s a good story even if it’s a bit cliché at times.

Goodreads rating 4/5

NetGalley

Hello my dear readers, just thought I'd hop in and wish you all a good night. I'm about to go to bed (it's just after 10 pm here), since I have a bunch of "grown up" stuff to do tomorrow. You know, grocery shopping, studying and stuff like that. I've got a history/academic writing exam on Thursday. Which brings me to what I was actually going to say. I just finished reading 'City of Ashes' by Cassandra Clare (literally like two minutes ago) and I really want to write a review on that, but it's gonna have to wait until Friday, after I'm done with the exam and have recovered from it. What I can say now however is that I liked it much better than 'City of Bones', so much so that I really want to start reading the next book in the series, which is 'City of Glass'. But that too is going to have to wait until after the exam, I'm actually thinking about bringing the book with me to school so I can read it while I wait for the bus afterwards. NERD? Yes, and proud of it!

I also wanted to say that I joined NetGalley today and I already got myself a copy of 'the Witch Hunter' by Virginia Boecker. I mentioned the book in my earlier post, so yeah I'm super excited about that. I can't wait to read it and I hope it will be soon even thought I'm in a bit of a Shadowhunter phase at the moment.

That's all, I'm gonna get some sleep now. Take care!

xx Kayla

2015 releases

I thought I'd share some of my most anticipated 2015 releases. These are far from all of the books I'm waiting for this year, but the whole list is way too long.

3/31 Where Sea Meets Sky- Karina Halle

4/21 Becoming Jinn- Lori Goldstein

4/21 Nobody's Goddess- Amy McNulty

4/28 An Ember in the Ashes- Sabaa Tahir

4/28 The Girl at Midnight- Melissa Grey

5/5 A Court of Thorns and Roses- Sarah J Maas

5/5 The Heir- Kiera Cass

5/5 Crimson Bound- Rosamund Hodge

6/2 The Witch Hunter- Virginia Boecker

6/2 Joyride- Anna Banks

6/23 Emmy & Oliver- Robin Benway

7/7 Silver in the Blood- Jessica Day George

9/8 Sweet Temptation- Wendy Higgins

10/6 Six of Crows- Leigh Bardugo

10/27 Persuasion- Martina Boone

So these are some of the books I'm not so patiently waiting for. The books I've been waiting for the longest are 'Sweet Temptation' and 'Joyride' so I think those are the ones I'm most excited about. Anyway I'll be sure to read these and review them for you. I'm trying to get my hands on some ARC's but that's easier said than done, unfortunatley.

That's all for now! Have a great day!

P.S. I really hate how like half of the space is empty, I tried putting the pics in the center but that just looks weird. I really feel like I need a blog design. Help?

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #1)

Original title: City of Bones

Year published: 2007

Published by: Walker Books

Number of pages: 506

First sentence: ““You’ve got to be kidding me,” the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.”

Plot: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...
(From Goodreads)

My thoughts: Um, yeah, no. I mean there really isn’t much wrong with the book and I did give it 4/5 on Goodreads. I love the Shadowhunter world that Clare has created. I love the Infernal Devices series but this, I don’t know. It’s probably because I keep comparing it to the movie and that’s my own fault. The book is better than the movie, I mean way better but I keep seeing the things and people from the movie and I don’t like it. Take Alec for example, he’s a douche in the book and in the movie but I think the book version of him is more attractive, mostly because he’s supposed to be taller than Jace, but I keep seeing Alec (Kevin Segers) from the movie. It’s really annoying to have seen the movie before finishing the book because I find myself going: “No, that’s not how it happened in the movie”. It bugs me because what happens in the book actually makes a lot more sense than the movie. 

This whole Valentine deal pisses me off royally. Why is Jace so quick to believe that Valentine is his father? Sure he has a story to explain everything but it still doesn’t add up. And yes I do know how things actually are with that whole situation and that just makes it so much worse. Ugh. Valentine is much more of an evil asshole in the book than the movie, I didn’t really think that it was possible to be more of an ass but apparently it was. Way to go Mr Morgenstern.  Luke is such a babe though, too bad he’s not Clary’s bio dad.

I’m 30% done with the next book, ‘City of Ashes’, and can I just say: “whaaaaaaat!?” for a moment. And when the hell does Jocelyn wake up?  Confused.com

But do I recommend it? Sure, why not? I mean it’s a good story. My problems are with myself and not the book.

Goodreads rating: 4/5

See Me by Wendy Higgins

Original title: See Me

Year published: 2014

Published by: Wendy Higgins

Number of pages: 309

First sentence: “Cecelia Mason had never been more frightened.”

Plot: Since she was six years old Robyn has imagined flying to Ireland and meeting McKale for the first time. Things, however, are not exactly as she imagined and she soon finds herself in a fight for something she never thought she’d be fighting for. Oh, and her opponent? A faerie princess.

My thoughts: LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this book. First of all Ireland, second of all Irish accent and third; McKale. Oh sweet lord.
The characters were great, the complemented each other very nicely. The Mason family; mom Cecelia and dad Léon were such a loving couple and you could tell right away that they loved each other and their children. Which brings us to the Mason daughters, Robyn and Cassidy. They had a really great dynamic, where Robyn kept her feelings on the inside Cassidy had her heart on her sleeve. Robyn and Cassidy had that sisterly relationship most sisters crave. Then there’s the two Chaun boys, McKale and Rock. Rock is a wild, shoot first ask question later sort of guy. McKale is a quiet guy, at least at first. There were points when I thought he was a total asshole but mostly I just swooned. The asshole part was because of the FFG as Cassidy calls her, it stands for Freaky Faerie Girl. The FFG is a total bitch, out to destroy Robyn and McKales relationship. Ugh, just thinking about her pisses me off. So basically what I’m saying is that all the characters were amazing just like they are in the Sweet Series, so basically what I’m saying is that Wendy Higgins is great at building characters. Yup.
The story is a really great one, even though at the end there are still some questions that went unanswered. And I thought the book was way too short, I mean it’s not like it just ended abruptly or anything but 300 pages is not nearly enough, I wanted more Robyn and McKale, what happens next? I also wanted more Cassidy and Rock. But I do think I heard a little birdy saying that there may be a book about Cassidy on its way. Let’s hope so, Cassidy’s story certainly isn’t over.

It takes place in Ireland, I mean come on, seriously, Ireland. McKale has the cutest accent, I even read it with the accent in my head, haha. The location sounds beautiful, the fields and that waterfall, jeez. I so would like to visit that place, drink some mead, or maybe some of that moonshine and listen to McKale telling the story of his folk.

Do I recommend it? Heck yes!

Favorite line: “Holy sihtballs. We’re in the Shire.”

Goodreads rating: 5/5

Now all I have to do is wait for September and Sweet Temptation to come along. Hurry up September! I need me some Kai!

New in

Hello peeps! I told you a couple of days ago that I had ordered some books and yesterday three out of the four arrived. Here they are:

Abandon by Meg Cabot

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

I'm super excited to read these but mostly I'm excited about Red Queen, I've heard so many great things about it. But why is it so huge? Haha

Anyway that's all for me for now, just wanted to show you the books. Have a great day!

xx Kayla

Mini reviews

Hey guys. Since the blog is obviously lacking everything at the moment I thought I’d let you know what books I’ve been reading lately and what I thought about them. I’m going to call these mini reviews because they’re not going to be as, I don’t know, analyzing (?) as my reviews usually are but they’ll still give you an idea as to what I thought of the books. For plots, see Goodreads.

Books read in January:

Captivated by you (Crossfire #4) by Sylvia Day

 I liked this book although I felt that there were some things missing. I’m always curious to learn more about the characters Eva and Gideon and even though you got to know some about them I kind of felt like this book was a filler. Eva and Gideon actually didn’t accomplish that much in their relationship and they didn’t move forward as much as I would have wanted so I was a bit disappointed by that. And the way the book ended, gaaah! *pulls hair out* I mean seriously, you can do better than that miss Day!

Goodreads rating 4/5

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I read this book for a literature course at uni and I didn’t like it very much. Sure the story was good and all that but it was too slow for my liking. The different POV’s confused me. I liked the movie better and that doesn’t happen a lot.

Goodreads rating 2/5

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Another book read for school, though I liked this one better. I liked the characters and the story. It was a bit slow in the beginning but it got better the further you got into it. An OK book.

Goodreads rating 3/5

Books read in February:

Wake (Watersong  #1) by Amanda Hocking

I was a bit disappointed by this book. What I’ve read of Hocking so far has been great, I loved the Trylle series so I was of course expecting a similar experience with this, but sadly that didn’t happen. The story is actually quite a good one and I enjoyed how Hocking incorporated the Greek mythology. The character of Gemma was interesting enough but the fact that she would die for someone she basically just started having feelings for annoyed the crap out of me. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll leave it at that.

Goodreads rating 3/5

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare

Oh my beloved Shadowhunters how I’ve missed you. As usual Clare’s attention to detail is just, WOW. After reading this book I immediately wanted to dive into the next one but I had to stop myself. So many books, so little time. This book wasn’t as good as the first one but that was probably just because there weren’t as many new impressions in this one. You get to know a lot about the characters pasts in this book and I think that helps getting to know them better. I know I fell a bit more in love with Jem when I read this book, but also Will, oh poor Will. So until the next book I’ll just keep Jem and Will in my mind.

Goodreads rating 4/5

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Okay, so I hated this book in the beginning. I mean really, I wanted to stop reading it, set in on fire and bury it. But I’m glad I didn’t. This turned out to be one of those books you read and then when you finish you feel empty and you’re not exactly sure how to move on with your life. I can’t say that I loved it because I didn’t. There wasn’t enough action so to speak. But I loved the characters and the plot twist, oh my. I’m glad I gave Mr Green a shot and I will certainly continue reading him.

Goodreads rating 4/5

The Selection, The Elite & The One (The Selection #1-3) by Kiera Cass

A new favorite. The entire series is amazing but more on that later. My first thought was: “Is this supposed to be British English or American English?” because Cass uses words such as post instead of mail etc. But it is in fact American English. The country, called Illéa is actually America in the future after a couple more world wars and a takeover by China. So it’s a dystopian book, and I love that. In my epic reads book tag I said that if I had to choose a dystopian world to live in I’d choose the Chicago from the Divergent series, but I’ve changed my mind. I want Illéa and I would like to be a Three or a Four. What’s a three and a four you ask? Well Illéa has a caste system where One is the Royal family and Eight is the lowest, they’re the homeless people. Our main character, ironically named America Singer (yes, ironically, we’ll get to that later, maybe) is a Five, which is not great but it’s not bad either. Fives are the artist types of the community, hence the last name Singer. Anyway, so there’s this selection thingy where one girl from each province get “randomly” selected (every girl between the ages of 16 and 19 (?) can enter the draw) to move in to the royal palace and compete for the Prince’s heart. Weird? Yes. Wait, no, I wasn’t going to retell the plots in these mini reviews. We’ll use Goodreads for that.
Anyway, I loved this book, I loved America, I loved Prince Maxon, I loved May. I hated Aspen. So yes the series is amazing and I can’t wait to read the fourth book!

Goodreads rating 5/5, 4/5 & 5/5

Books read in March (so far):

Fallen by Lauren Kate (Fallen #1)

I really liked this book although the love triangle bit bummed me a bit. I think we’ve established that I’m not the biggest fan of love triangles. But how stoked was I when I realized that not only was this book about a girl being reincarnated but about fallen angels?! Amazing. I love fallen angels and I’m totally doing a re-read of Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush Hush series this summer. Anyway, OMG Daniel Grigori seriously, and Cam as well, you won’t be lacking boys in this one I can promise you that. And also the main character of Luce, I love her, she’s so troubled but still manages to find new friends and stuff. Yay her. I’m waiting to read the next book which I failed to add to my latest book order.

Goodreads rating 4/5

That is all for now, hopefully my new books will get here soon and I can show them to you. Have a great evening/day wherever you may be!

xx Kayla

What?

Okay, so I just noticed that the video I posted on Valentine's Day isn't really working, it cuts off at 2.30 when it's supposed to be over ten minutes long. Did that happen for you guys as well or is it just me? Not sure how I'm gonna fix it or if I even can but it would really help me if you could just leave a comment saying if you can watch the whole video or not.

Also, I know that the blog has been dead for a while and I'm going to try and fix that but school and everything has been getting in the way and I have like five books to review. I usually comment on the books I'm reading on twitter and/or goodreads so you're more than welcome to follow me on there if you really miss my book comments.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this dip, it is very much appreciated.

xx Kayla