Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

Title/Author: Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, August 2nd 2011
How I got this book: got it from my brother as a birthday present, yay!

Goodreads summary: "Will Elise’s love life be an epic win or an epic fail?
At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Case in point:
As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school—not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects.
As the daughter of the new principal, Elise Benton isn’t exactly on everyone’s must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list.
When Elise’s beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince’s best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl on campus. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long."

I'd been hearing so many good things about this book before I started reading it, my hopes were pretty high. And sadly, they were probably so high the book didn't live up to it. By that I don't mean it was bad, just not as amazing as I had expected.

BUT: this was a really cute read. I mean, I love P&P, it's my all-time favourite novel and I really enjoyed this modern adaptation of it. I could just picture it happening like that in high school, all the misunderstandings!

Elise is a great character and I loved how witty she was! She really cares about her sisters and family, which was great. I really enjoyed the interaction between her and Derek, they were very good together!

There were some things I didn't really like: all the weird rules Elise's parents had! I mean, no mobile phones at home? Huh? I didn't really get that. I get you're not allowed to text at dinner or other set family time, but not at all? Weird! Also: where was Mary? There were only 4 sisters in this book instead of 5...

All in all, this was a cute, quick read and even if you don't know P&P, it will be an enjoyable read!

My rating: 3,5 stars

Unclaimed by Courtney Milan

Title/Author: Unclaimed by Courtney Milan
Publisher/Date published: HQN Books, September 20th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Her only hope for survival...
Handsome, wealthy and respected, Sir Mark Turner is the most sought-after bachelor in all of London — and he's known far and wide for his irreproachable character. But behind his virtuous reputation lies a passionate nature he keeps carefully in check... until he meets the beautiful Jessica Farleigh, the woman he's waited for all his life.
Is to ruin the man she loves...
But Jessica is a courtesan, not the genteel lady Sir Mark believes. Desperate to be free of a life she despises, she seizes her chance when Mark's enemies make her an offer she can't refuse: seduce Mark and tarnish his good name, and a princely sum will be hers. Yet as she comes to know the man she's sworn to destroy, Jessica will be forced to choose between the future she needs…and the love she knows is impossible."

With this book, I had to adjust a bit to the setting, because usually the historical romances I read revolve around London's society and the balls and everything that goes along with them. But I ended up really enjoying this book.

Throughout the novel there are a lot of hints regarding Jessica's past and an 'illness' she went through not too long ago, but we're not given the answers until pretty much the end. And though I guessed what it had to do with, the revelation left me openmouthed with horror. It was so barbaric! Really, I wanted to shoot that guy! GAH!

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Mark and Jessica and thought it was really refreshing that for once the very male main character was a virgin and the heroine had all this experience, instead of the other way around, as it usually is. I did think Mark was very arrogant, but well, he had enough charm to pull it off.

And towards the ending this book brought tears to my eyes and I love it when that happens! I did think the ending was a bit drawn out, but it didn't matter much, because I really enjoyed it anyway!

I really liked that the two got to know eachother before jumping in bed together and proclaiming they're in love. I liked that it's not the only thing they did together, they spend time together and I loved reading about their moments together.

My rating: 4 stars

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Title/Author: The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees
Publisher/Date published: Harlequin Teen, September 27th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "I wanted the role of Juliet more than anything. I studied hard. I gave a great reading for it — even with Bobby checking me out the whole time. I deserved the part.
I didn't get it. So I decided to level the playing field, though I actually might have leveled the whole play. You see, since there aren't any Success in Getting to Be Juliet in Your High School Play spells, I thought I'd cast the next best — a Fame spell. Good idea, right?
Yeah. Instead of bringing me a little fame, it brought me someone a little famous. Shakespeare. Well, Edmund Shakespeare. William's younger brother.
Good thing he's sweet and enthusiastic about helping me with the play... and — ahem — maybe a little bit hot. But he's from the past. Way past. Cars amaze him — cars! And cell phones? Ugh.
Still, there's something about him that's making my eyes go star-crossed..."

Okay, so I'd heard some less than stellar things about this book before I started it. And it ended up surprising me, because I really liked it. Well, the first part that is. About 50 pages before the end I went WTF???

I mean, the story was funny and cute and I liked Edmund, even though he was basically just a horny teenage boy. And though Miranda doesn't always have her priorities straight, I liked her as a character as well. She's extremely passionate about acting and well, I like a character who works to achieve his or her dream.

So we were doing good, we had the main character making goo-goo eyes at the horny teenage boy, while conveniently not seeing the other, much nicer, non-medieval guy who was silently pining for her. And we had a cute story. And then things got messed up. There was Miranda's dad returning out of nowhere, just being accepted back, despite being gone for years and years without any contact except paychecks. There was a whole weird almost shooting incident and the entrance of William Shakespeare himself.

And this is where the story lost its cuteness and made me go WTF?? instead.

And I'm sad that happened! Because it had such potential! But I felt the story got resolved in a way too convenient way and it all felt a bit rushed. Seriously, I was really wondering during the last 15 pages how they were going to send Edmund and William back, because they obviously had to. And then all of a sudden it all was resolved and it left me feeling slightly cheated.

All in all, this book had a really cute and fun start and I just wished it could have held on to that. The starred rating is mostly based on the first part, if the last part had been as good, it would surely have gotten a higher rating.

My rating: 3 stars

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Title/Author: The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (The Inheritance Trilogy #2)
Publisher/Date published: Orbit, November 3rd 2010
How I got this book: got it from my parents as a Christmas present, yay!
Why I read this book: I LOVED The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which is the first book in this series. Besides, look at the pretty cover!

Goodreads summary: "The gods have broken free after centuries of slavery, and the world holds its breath, fearing their vengeance. The saga of mortals and immortals continues in THE BROKEN KINGDOMS. In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a homeless man who glows like a living sun to her strange sight. This act of kindness engulfs Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. Oree's peculiar guest is at the heart of it, his presence putting her in mortal danger -- but is it him the killers want, or Oree? And is the earthly power of the Arameri king their ultimate goal, or have they set their sights on the gods themselves?"

I first fell in love with this series when I saw the cover of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, it's absolutely beautiful and I so hoped the writing was as good as the cover promised. And it was! I devoured that one and then had to wait 6 agonizing months for the sequel to come out. And was rewarded for my patience with both another pretty cover and an amazing story.

Set 10 years after the happenings in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, we see the story through Oree's eyes, or more acurately: through her eyes, ears, smell and touch. Oree is blind, with the strange ability to see magic. This means she can see the godlings (children of the gods) and any other magic, which leaves a kind of residu sometimes. And as Shadow is a city godlings frequent, she still gets to see a huge amount of the place she lives in. It was so interesting to experience the world through someone who can't see and who doesn't take it for granted the times she can. I also thought it was a nice touch Oree's eyes make people uncomfortable, as in they're repelled by them. It's a change from the different but beautiful eyes. And being able to see magic is just really cool.

Oree interacts with the godlings frequently and one, Madding, used to be her lover. Their interaction is heartbreaking, they didn't break it off because they stopped loving each other, but because he is immortal and fears the pain of loosing her when she dies.

Recently there has been an addition to her house: a strange man who glows magic every morning, who she found in the trash one day. He doesn't talk and since Oree wants to address him somehow, she names him Shiny. The godlings don't like Shiny, but none will tell Oree why. Slowly she figures it out and though I remembered what happened in the first book, I was still slow to grasp the concept. If information about who this man really is gets out, the whole world as Oree knows it would stand on his head.

There's also the problem of people murdering godlings, who aren't supposed to be able to die at the hands of mortals. So who's behind this? And what does he want? Oree's thrown right into the middle of it all and doesn't know how she'll make it out of this alive.

This book was so incredibly amazing! Oree is such a real character, her reactions to things are relateable, though I wouldn't necessarily make the same choices she did, I completely supported her througout the book. She's a strong woman and doesn't like to rely on other people for things. She's learned to cope with being blind and I really enjoyed her story.
I think I developed a little crush on Madding, he is a beautiful person and cares about Oree very much. Godlings have a complex nature and I though Madding and the other were very interesting. Shiny (OMG, how much do I love the author/Oree for coming up with this one! Too funny!) is mysterious and at first, I did not like him very much, but he shows real growth and he has earned a special spot in my heart all for himself. We'd already met him in the first book and I loved how Jemisin explored his character in this one.

The storytelling is beautiful, I could picture everything the author mentions and I loved how I just wanted to keep on reading and at the same time not wanting the book to end. Jemisin has created a wonderful world with perhaps a more mythical than fantasy feeling to it and I absolutely loved it. Now I'll have to wait another agonizing 6 months for the next one! (Wrote this review in February, totally already read the third book and it was AWESOME! Review to come!)

My rating: 5+ stars

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

Title/Author: Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, September 20th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "It was a beautiful, warm summer day, the day Danny died.
Suddenly Wren was alone and shattered. In a heartbroken fury, armed with dark incantations and a secret power, Wren decides that what she wants — what she must do — is to bring Danny back.
But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy Wren fell in love with. His touch is icy; his skin, smooth and stiff as marble; his chest, cruelly silent when Wren rests her head against it.
Wren must keep Danny a secret, hiding him away, visiting him at night, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school, and Wren realizes that somehow, inexplicably, he can sense the powers that lie within her — and that he knows what she has done. And now Gabriel wants to help make things right.
But Wren alone has to undo what she has wrought — even if it means breaking her heart all over again."

Ok, so I had some doubts about this book, but I'd heard really good things about it, so I requested it, because you know, I have skipped on books many times, only to hear EVERYONE raving about it and then loving it myself and regretting not getting to it sooner. But this time, I should have trusted my instincts.

I'm not big on zombies. I'm totally fine with undead beings: vampires, revenants, ghosts. But zombies... They don't do it for me (mostly because they're creepy and want to eat my brains). And Danny was pretty much like a zombie to me. So we were not off to a good start.

But in the beginning I thought, well, seems like Wren (which is an AWESOME name) has gotten herself into a sticky situation (always wanted to say that), let's see how she'll manage to get out of it. Wren seemed cool at first, she had been dealing with the consequences on her own and because of this she had pretty much lost her friends and you know, her LIFE.

Enter Gabriel, who for some reason I can't figure out, is attracted to Wren. And seriously, there was too much insta-love for me here. I do not understand WHY he would like her.

This is probably the main issue: I did not like Wren. She treats a lot of people badly. REALLY badly! Her mom, her friends, her sister, Gabriel and yes, her dead boyfriend too. She's shutting them out and I can get she has to keep the undeadness of Danny a secret, but still. You can still be a decent person. But she's not. She doesn't appreciate help when it's offered, especially by Gabriel. And she has issues with her mom that I did not get at all and she's generally not a good person. There, I said it.

Also, she's constantly crying about the situation with Danny WITHOUT actually DOING something about it! I mean, really, it's been like that for 3 MONTHS. Not days, months. And she knew it wasn't right pretty much from the start. What is wrong with her that she didn't do something about it sooner! This annoyed me.

So yeah, this book wasn't for me. I finished it because it was a pretty quick read and I was thinking it would get better. I think this is a stand-alone, but there's a lot of issues left unresolved. There's a whole lot going on between Wren and her mother I couldn't really make sense of, also stuff about her father, but this never gets explained further. To me, this was the most interesting part of the novel, so I'm sad that it wasn't explored further.

My rating: 1,5 stars

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Title/Author: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns #1) by Rae Carson
Publisher/Date published: HarperTeen, September 20th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king — a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he’s not the only one who needs her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.
Most of the chosen do."

I've been PINING for this book for a year before reading this. And guess what: TOTALLY AMAZING! Seriously, I LOVED this book. I would have read it in one sitting if something trivial like sleep and my internship hadn't gotten in the way.

So now that I've gotten my gushing out the way, let me tell you all the ways this book blew my mind.

First, OMG the whole godstone lore! It was so amazing! I'm not a religious person, but I was intrigued by this whole thing. Especially when this system of a chosen one getting a godstone is being turned on its head! I'm so excited to see where the author will take this in the next book!

And Elisa, seriously, if you like strong female characters in your fantasy, this is the girl for you! She has a real backbone, isn't afraid to laugh at herself and is just a NICE person. It was refreshing that she starts out being very much overweight and actually has a personality instead of just being pretty. She shows such character growth throughout the book, it was wonderful.

And then there was THE BOY. Oh Humberto, how you made my romantic little heart flutter with your amazing boyness you!
**MAJOR SPOILER, LIGHT UP TO READ:**
So, seriously, who else was gaping openmouthed when he died??? OMG! I cannot believe that happened! I wanted to go back and unread that so Humberto would still be alive! I am so incredibly sad it happened and I'm not sure it was necessary. Humberto...
**END OF SPOILER**

And the storyline, it was amazing. And I had kind of guessed something that would be important at the end of the book, but I had NO IDEA it would turn out like this. This whole world blew my mind and I'm dying to find out what will happen to Elisa in the next book. Which needs to be here now instead of October 2012! How will I survive in the meantime?? Seriously?

Oh, and can I just say that while I'm not loving this cover so much, after reading the book it makes perfect sense. I'll give you a hint: that blue thing is the godstone. I realised this about halfway through. Yes, I am a genius...

If you couldn't tell already, I loved this book so much I'm not really coherent about it. Which means you should all go read it. If you like fantasy and good books in general, you will enjoy this.
My rating: 5+ stars

A Thank You to books

I saw this contest around the interwebs and to enter you had to make a post about the one book you are most thankful for. And of course I want to win the awesome prize package, but I also really love this question.
Because, what book ARE you most thankful for?

Is it a book that helped you get through some rough times? Is it the book that got you into reading in the first place or got you back into reading after a break? Is it the book you find yourself pushing on other people because they HAVE to read it already? Is it the book that when you read it makes you feel like you slip into a warm nest or like hanging out with your best friend?

The book I'm most thankful for is the Harry Potter books. I know I cheat by naming the series, but it's true.

I have grown up with these books. I was 12 when I started reading them and looking back, I think I didn't read as much back then as I used to. I had started high school a year before and reading was just 'not cool'. And you know what? These books grabbed me and brought me back to reading. I know Christmas that year was filled with reading the first book and then begging my parents to get me the next one immediately.
These books made me connect with readers all over the world who also loved the books, it's the first I ever realised that reading did not have to be a solitary activity! There was this whole fanbase and through this I discovered FanFiction.net and Fictionpress and just spend whole days reading stories on both sites. I know I haven't read many actual books in high school, but I have read A LOT of unpublished stories in those years.

So thank you J.K. Rowling for introducing me to this wonderful world and resparking my passion for reading and my love for the fantasy genre!

I really thought I was gonna say Pride and Prejudice, but while this is my all-time favourite book, it didn't have the same impact on me as this series did. I was already firmly back in reading, though it did make me appreciate the romance genre more and started my interest in reading the classics (which I have been slacking on).

Anyway, that's me. So tell me, what book are you most thankful for? And don't forget to enter for a chance to win this amazing prize package!