BLOGOVERSARY WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT!!

BLOGOVERSARY GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!

 And the winner is....

 Alexandra @Milky Way of Books!!

CONGRATS TO HER!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Alexandra has already claimed her prize, which
is the following book!!

According to Goodreads, the title of this novel,
which is the sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses,
is A Court of Mist and Fury.
The author might decide to change this title,
but this is what I found on Goodreads.

THANKS TO EVERYONE
   WHO PARTICIPATED!!!!!  

Please stay tuned, as I have giveaways 
going on all the time!

Right now, I have the Spooktacular giveaway,
which ends this Saturday, Oct. 31st!!
(It runs all day Saturday, and ends
at midnight on Nov. 1st.)
Enter to WIN a Halloween-themed book of 
your choice!!

Just click on this button!!

Waiting On Wednesday #144: The Shadow Hour, by Melissa Grey

This is a weekly event hosted by

Jill @ Breaking the Spine!!

It showcases future releases which

we book bloggers

are eagerly anticipating!!

Here's my choice for this week!

The Shadow Hour

(The Girl At Midnight, Book 2)

Melissa Grey 

Hardcover, 304 pages

Delacorte Press

July 12, 2016

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction,
Young Adult Fiction

The much-anticipated sequel to the book Danielle Page, author of Dorothy Must Die, says is "inventive, gorgeous, and epic--Grey dazzles."

Everything in Echo's life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: she is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace.

The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.

Echo has already lost her home, her family, and her boyfriend. Now, as the firebird, her path is filled with even greater dangers than the ones she's already overcome.

She knows the Dragon Prince will not fall without a fight.

Echo must decide: can she wield the power of her true nature--or will it prove too strong for her, and burn what's left of her world to the ground?

Welcome to the shadow hour.

Why I'm waiting on this one!

Well, what can I say, except that The Girl At Midnight has been on my TBR since like.....forever, 
and now I want this one, too?
I know I have to catch up, but if I don't dream 
about this sequel, I might never get to
read it sometime in the future.....
Does that make sense?
No? Okay, so I just want it!  The hype is
just killing me!!!! 

What do you think of my choice?

Leave your link below, so I can
come check out your pick(s)!

Stacking The Shelves #44

Welcome to

Stacking The Shelves!!

This is a weekly event hosted by 

Tynga's Reviews!!

As the title implies, this is all about

sharing the books you're adding

to your shelves, be they physical or virtual.

For the complete rules, and to link up,

just click on the link above.

Here's this week's haul!!   

Books Won In Giveaway!!

I won these books in a giveaway
held by Baggins @ Pinker Than Fiction!!
Thank you so much to her!!
I've had these two in my Goodreads TBR
for a long time. Now I will finally
get to read them!!

Amazon Kindle Purchases

I entered the blog tour giveaway to 

hopefully win a paperback copy

of this book. Meanwhile, I

had already bought the Kindle edition.

Well, I didn't win, so I will be 

buying the paperback a bit later on!

I got most of these books for FREE, 

but always check prices first!

Kindle books are free for 

limited periods of time, and then they

do have a price.

Coloring Book Update

I recently bought some coloring books, 

and jumped on the wagon of 

this great new craze!

Here's my first project, which is in progress.

This design is from the gorgeous book

shown below!

What do you think of my haul

this week?

Please leave your link in

the comments so I can come over

to your blog and see yours!! 

Feature & Follow Friday #15: Re-writing a book: what changes?

Welcome to Feature & Follow Friday!!

This weekly hop is hosted by  

Rachel @ Parajunkee's View, and 

Alison @ Alison Can Read!!

You can find the rules at the links above.

Join in the fun and make new blogging friends!

Every week, 1 or 2 new blogs 
are featured!

This week's featured blogs
 are
Kayl's Crazy Obsession

and

Confuzzled Books!!

Here is this week's question:

If you could re-write a book, which one would it be, and what changes 
would you make?


Contributed by
Go Book Yourself 

A little over five years ago, I read Lauren Kate's Fallen, and loved it. I then continued with the rest of the series, as each book was released. I did have mixed feelings about the second book, Torment, but I went on to Passion, which I also loved! Then came Rapture.....

This last book started off for me very well; I had previously featured it in one of my "Waiting On Wednesday" posts, so I was really excited to read it! Well, the beginning was wonderful, the writing really flowed, the relationship between Luce and Daniel was fantastic.....and then, the book, in my honest opinion, just crashed and burned.

I would have re-written the last third of this novel. 

(WARNING: THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Things I would change:

1.) From the very beginning, Luce (the female protagonist is named "Lucinda", but everyone calls her "Luce") was presented as a human girl. In this last book, the reader finds out that she really isn't. This made the romance between her and Daniel, an angel, less fascinating for me. I LOVE paranormal romances in which the girl is human, and the guy is some paranormal being. So I would  keep Luce human all the way through to the end, or change her into an angel somewhere along the way.

2.) Luce is constantly re-incarnating. But the kind of creature she is, according to this last book, is not supposed to be able to reincarnate (they don't need to), so this is entirely illogical!  Again, this would make sense if Luce were human (reincarnation is not accepted by everyone, though), but she's not. So again, Luce should be a human girl.

3.) There's a blood sacrifice in the book, and this is supposed to help Luce and her friends find the exact location of a very important event. Say WHAT?! WHY is a blood sacrifice necessary here? The answer is, it's not. And it's totally DISGUSTING. The person who performs this sacrifice in the book doesn't want to do it, either; but is told that they must do it, or things will not go along as they should. NO, NO, NO!!!!  You don't have the good guys doing this type of thing! This is BLACK MAGIC. So I would eliminate this entirely. Luce & Co. can definitely find the important location without the loss of an innocent life. MAJOR TURN-OFF. 

4.) When I started reading Fallen, I noticed that Daniel and Cam were referred to as  'fallen angels'. Wait a minute.....a fallen angel is a DEMON. These names are synonymous. So I would not give them this label, as it's very confusing. Demons are incapable of any good; they are totally evil. Yet, Daniel and Cam are not that bad. In fact, Cam is really more of a bad boy than Daniel. Again, totally illogical. I would love to re-write Daniel and Cam as ANGELS. Period. Angels who are tempted, perhaps, but angels from Heaven. Of course, I would have to alter their personalities entirely.

5.) I was also turned off by the many liberties Kate took with Christian themes in this novel. If you're going to base your fantasy on characters like those in  the Bible, then you've got to stick to that. Kate changes God into a Goddess! And the Devil, Lucifer, turns out to be not that bad, either, after all. He was just a jilted lover, poor thing.....Obviously, I would write these characters as they are presented in the Bible. Instead, Kate arbitrarily changed them, and then made them act in ways inconsistent with their natures, as presented in the Bible. This is totally disrespectful to the source. It is also disrespectful to those who hold Christian beliefs.

If you're going to write books with new stories about the Norse gods, to give an example with a different mythology and religion, you don't have them acting like Christian saints. You stick with how they're really supposed to act, according to Norse mythology. And you DON'T turn Thor, the mighty god of thunder, into a goddess! Then it's no longer Norse mythology. It's something of your own invention.

6.) The ending was a complete letdown. I would have Luce and Daniel, after being re-united, with the mystery of the (totally stupid) curse solved,  embark upon some divine mission, with the blessings of the Almighty. Heck, maybe then the series could have been continued!

7.) The curse Luce was under was TOTALLY STUPID. Again, it was illogical. The idea of her being cursed is not stupid; I like that the main characters were working together to liberate Luce from the curse. The problem is the REASON for this curse. So, if I were re-writing this book, I would have invented a different reason altogether.

So those are the things I would change in this novel. However, it's obvious that all the books would need changes, too, since this last book ties up everything that went before. Still, I do think that. of the four books, Rapture is the one that bothered me the most!

 

If you're interested, you can 

find my review HERE.

Next Week's Question

What are your favorite books that 
have been made into movies?

Contributed by

Girl of 1000 Wonders

These are my follow preferences.
The links are in my sidebar.

 Be sure to visit the rest of the
participating blogs!!

Book Review: Frostbite, by Richelle Mead (second review for the 2015 Halloween Reading Challenge)

This is my second review for the

2015 Halloween Reading Challenge,

hosted by Reading Every Season!

If you'd like to participate, 

click on the link above, both for

signing up, and to leave your

review links!

Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!!

Frostbite
(Vampire Academy, Book 2)
Richelle Mead
Trade Paperback, 327 pages
Razorbill, April 10, 2008
(first published April 1, 2008)
Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Source: eBay

Book Synopsis:

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi, the fiercest vampires - the ones that never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them. Rose has serious guy trouble. Her gorgeous tutor, Dimitri, has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason has a huge crush on her, and she keeps getting stuck in her best friend Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian.

Then a nearby Strigoi attack puts St. Vladimir's on high alert, and the Academy whisks its students away on a mandatory holiday ski trip. But the glittering winter landscape and posh Idaho resort only provide the illusion of safety. When three students run away to strike back against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. Only this time, Rose - and her heart - are in more danger than she ever could have imagined...

 

The second book in this series is just as riveting as the first, as the characters continue to interact in very interesting ways. There is a lot of intrigue in this novel!

The story opens with the massacre of a prominent Moroi royal family, just as Rose was about to undergo a trial of her fighting skills as a future Guardian. Tension runs very high, as the shadow of the Strigoi menace looms, too close for comfort.

Even when most of the residents at St. Vladimir's flee from Montana, the school's location, to an Idaho ski resort which is considered safe, trouble ensues....and the reader encounters Strigoi villains up close and personal -- even closer than in the first book.

There is just as much angst in this novel as in the first one, as Rose has to deal with her feelings for Dimitri, even as he seems interested in another woman. At the same time, she tries hard to avoid hurting Mason's feelings. He's had a crush on her since before Rose and Lissa returned to St. Vladimir's, and continues to pressure her for a more serious relationship in this novel. 

Lissa, too, has some relationship issues with her boyfriend, Christian, and it's because of one Adrian Ivashkov, the mysterious Moroi with an aura of danger about him....

I'm not sure how I feel about Adrian. He seems to have a bad reputation, but then, so does Christian, who ends up with Lissa, anyway. Adrian is just as snarky as Rose (except that, in my opinion, his comments are not as witty as Rose's), and she doesn't really like him. Like me, she wonders if he can be trusted. Only subsequent events prove that he's really on the side of the good guys; at least, for the moment.

I love how Richelle Mead makes her characters so appealing! They are vividly drawn; the reader feels their feelings, and lives through their triumphs, defeats and romantic conflicts. This is one of the marks of a great storyteller!

As with the first novel, Mead concentrates a lot on the personal drama going on among her characters, so the plot does take a back seat at times. This means that things move along slowly throughout some parts of the novel; there are spurts of action, then everything seems to slow down again, while the conflicts between all of the main characters heat up. The action only picks up dramatically towards the last third of the book. This doesn't bother me at all, as I find the personal conflicts very interesting to read about. I  love psychology, so I think it's just wonderful how Mead shows us who these fictional people are, just by having them argue, fight, and even just have apparently friendly conversations with each other. I am just as fascinated by the dialogues as I am by the action!

The romantic relationships in this novel were very well-handled, too. Lissa and Christian were totally adorable together without being so silly as to make me roll my eyes. Instead, I can only say I envied them. As for Rose and Mason, it made me sad to see that Rose could not fall in love with Mason, who totally worshiped the ground she walked on. Rose was having a hard time moving on from Dimitri, and I really didn't want her to! However, circumstances were not favorable for a relationship between them, as Dimitri told her, on more than one occasion. So that meant that poor Mason's hopes were being constantly dashed....and he had no idea why, either.

Rose's mother, Janine Hathaway, made an appearance in this story, and, of course, hostile sparks immediately flew between her and Rose, who resents her mother's lack of interest in her own daughter, for most of Rose's life. I have to say that I don't like Janine much myself, although I do admire her for being such an excellent guardian. Where Rose is concerned, though, Janine has indeed been very negligent, and I don't blame Rose at all for disliking her.  She and Rose had a very unpleasant encounter at one point in the book, which symbolized all of the unfinished business between them.

I really like how Lissa became bolder in this novel! She stood up for the Moroi, and this was a really controversial stand she took. I was so surprised by her new self-confidence! I totally agreed with her viewpoint, too. The Moroi are indeed too passive, too dependent on their devoted guardians.

Things came to a head when some students -- led by none other than Mason -- decided to go off and hunt some Strigoi, so as to take revenge on them for the recent killings. They got in over their heads, though..... This part of the book was very hard for me to read, as the author pulled no punches in making it very clear that the Strigoi are very, very evil.

In spite of the section of the book mentioned above, I really loved the world-building! Mead has created a very believable vampire world, with clear boundaries between good and evil, while, at the same time, she frequently makes readers doubt their own perceptions. This is not an easy skill, and one I totally praise her for!

I do have to point out that I was very saddened by a particularly tragic event..... The same thing happened to me when I was reading Book 6 of the Harry Potter series. Hopefully, I will be able to get over this pretty soon, and move on to the rest of the books in this fascinating series......

I do recommend Frostbite, as well as Vampire Academy, to all paranormal and urban fantasy fans. These books present unforgettable characters and events, so I would encourage you to dive in, if you haven't done so already!


MY RATING: 
  

  

Scorpio Richelle Mead is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy books for both adults and teens. Originally from Michigan, Richelle now lives in Seattle, Washington where she works on her three series full-time: Georgina Kincaid, Dark Swan, and Vampire Academy.

A life-long reader, Richelle has always loved mythology and folklore. When she can actually tear herself away from books (either reading or writing them), she enjoys bad reality TV, traveling, trying interesting cocktails, and shopping for dresses. She's a self-professed coffee addict and has a passion for all things wacky and humorous.

 

Website/Goodreads/Facebook

Twitter