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