Wednesday, 27 November 2013

December 2013 Releases

Hey guys! So, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I'm back and going to start blogging regularly again. I've got some GREAT and exciting stuff coming your way in the next month or two, so keep your eyes peeled! I thought I'd start off by posting a few of the books that are coming out next month. Just in case, you know, you maybe might wanna buy that BookLover in your life the perfect gift for Christmas! ;) I've provided a link below to the BookDepository, they've got amazingly cheap prices, FREE shipping worldwide, AND even often have sales on their already-cheap priced books :) Any money I make goes back into the blog for giveaways, etc. 

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I have to admit, I'm kinda hoping for some of these under MY Christmas tree, (I know, some of them aren't out until AFTER Christmas, but that's what pre-ordering and IOUs are for, right? ;) I am SUPER EXCITED for Taste of Darkness by Maria V. Snyder, and really, who isn't  dying for Andrea Cremer's Snakeroot novel to come out?! 

What books are you most excited for next month? Feel free to sound off in the comments! :)

Friday, 8 November 2013

Exciting New Stuff!

Hi guys! As you may, or may not have noticed, I haven't really been blogging much in the last few months. I just wanted to let everyone know what I've been up to!

I bought a new camera this summer, and I totally LOVE IT. And I've always loved taking pictures of everything, they're like a memory in a snapshot! So anyway, after seeing all the things my new camera can do that my old one didn't, I really started to get into picture-taking again.  Only, it's been more actual photography then just random photos :)



https://www.facebook.com/jessicaraexoxphotography

https://www.facebook.com/jessicaraexoxphotography

https://www.facebook.com/jessicaraexoxphotography

I have also discovered I love taking photos of animals more than people, so I'm thinking of going more into wildlife/animal photography, hopefully professionally someday! I've made a facebook page for my photography, so if you guys could visit and check it out, that would be so awesome. Here are a couple of my photos just to give you a taste :) Click HERE to view (and maybe 'Like'?) my page, or click on the photos!

Monday, 14 October 2013

The Iron King



The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: February 1st/2010
Pages: 363
Type: eBook
Goodreads 
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What It's About!

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Review
 
I can now say I know why everyone has buzzed about these books so much! Right away I got pulled into the world of the fey, and I'm not a huge fan of faery books. 

The Iron King, however, is way different than any other faery books I've ever read in the past. This book had really good world building, and the characters in it felt very realistic. One of the things I liked the most, was that Meghan was actually able to tell her mom of the faery world, and not have her think Meghan was completely crazy. Most books, the main character has to keep everything secret from their parents, so it was a nice change to see this in a YA book.

The story progressed very well, from the very beginning of the book, there was a slow build-up of story and characters that all slowly came together in a tidal wave and crashed into what was the end of the story. The end was a very good conclusion to tie up the story, while still leaving it open for the second book.

The Iron King was so full of interesting events and had so much action but also normal-ness to it, it really kept me interested for the whole book. 

Rating 

Sunday, 29 September 2013

Defiance


Defiance (Defiance #1) by C.J. Redwine

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: August 28th/2012
Pages: 403
Type: Paperback
Goodreads
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What It's About!

While the other girls in the walled city-state of Baalboden learn to sew and dance, Rachel Adams learns to track and hunt. While they bend like reeds to the will of their male Protectors, she uses hers for sparring practice.

When Rachel's father fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the city's brutal Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector: her father's apprentice, Logan—the boy she declared her love to and who turned her down two years before. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.


 As Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a monster that can't be killed and an army of assassins out for blood, they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war decades in the making.

Review

Defiance was a really good, action-packed read. It took me a few chapters to really get into the book, mostly because of the switching of views between Logan and Rachel, but once I did, I could not put it down.

I fell in love with both Rachel and Logan right away. Rachel is a strong, lead female character with kick-ass skills and an attitude to go with it, which most other girls in the book don't have because they're not raised to be. Rachel's father, however, was very smart in teaching his daughter how to fight instead of how to act at a tea-party. Logan is also a very strong character. LOVED him! He's gentle and caring but can still kick serious ass when he has to. He's like the guy version of Rachel, they're the perfect match! (Or so they seem to be, maybe this will change in the next book?).

I really liked this book, from the very beginning it was a slow but sure build-up to the ending, which was an explosion of action and events. Very very well done. The ending was not what I was expecting. I thought for sure it was going to be the end of a certain character, but this wasn't the case. I'm guessing this will lead to the start of the second book, which I think would be really good building blocks for the second book and hopefully we will see some things I hoped to have seen in this book. 


Rating 

Sunday, 15 September 2013

♥Cover Candie of the Month♥




Endless by Amanda Gray

Release Date: October 8th/2013
Publisher: Month9Books, LLC
Pages: 384
Goodreads 
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What It's About!

Jenny Kramer knows she isn’t normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumble on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought. Like a past life. Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. 
  
But they weren’t alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock -- and the Order -- Jenny and Nikolai discover a link that joins them in life -- and beyond death.

 

Monday, 2 September 2013

Book Release




Perfection Challenged, the thrilling conclusion to Jade Kerrion's multiple award-winning, bestselling DOUBLE HELIX series, will be released on September 17th and will be available in paperback and all electronic formats. Beta readers have declared Perfection Challenged "the best of the four books...the perfect ending to an amazing series." If you've never picked up the DOUBLE HELIX series, keep on reading for a special offer on Perfection Unleashed, the book that launched the DOUBLE HELIX series. 

PERFECTION CHALLENGED

An alpha empath, Danyael Sabre has survived abominations and super soldiers, terrorists and assassins, but he cannot survive his failing body. He wants only to live out his final days in peace, but life and the woman he loves, the assassin Zara Itani, have other plans for him. Galahad, the perfect human being created by Pioneer Labs, is branded an international threat, and Danyael is appointed his jury, judge, and executioner. Danyael alone believes that Galahad can be the salvation that the world needs, but is the empath blinded by the fact that Galahad shares his genes, and the hope that there is something of him in Galahad? In a desperate race against time and his own dying body, Danyael struggles to find fragments of good in the perfect human being, and comes to the wrenching realization that his greatest battle will be a battle for the heart of the man who hates him. 



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PERFECTION UNLEASHED

Perfection Unleashed

Recipient of six literary awards, including first place in Science Fiction, Reader Views Literary Awards 2012 and Gold medal winner in Science Fiction, Readers Favorites 2013. "Higher octane than Heroes. More heart than X-Men." 

 Danyael Sabre spent sixteen years clawing out of the ruins of his childhood and finally has everything he wanted—a career, a home, and a trusted friend. To hold on to them, he keeps his head down and plays by the rules. An alpha empath, he is powerful in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, yet his experience has taught him to avoid attention. When the perfect human being, Galahad, escapes from Pioneer Laboratories, the illusory peace between humans and their derivatives—the in vitros, clones, and mutants— collapses into social upheaval. The abominations, deformed and distorted mirrors of humanity, created unintentionally in Pioneer Lab’s search for perfection, descend upon Washington D.C. The first era of the Genetic Revolution was peaceful. The second is headed for open war. Although the genetic future of the human race pivots on Galahad, Danyael does not feel compelled to get involved and risk his cover of anonymity, until he finds out that the perfect human being looks just like him.  

FOR A LIMITED TIME, E-BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR JUST $0.99 (Discounted from $2.99) E-books available at Amazon / Amazon UK / Apple / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords Paperbacks available at Amazon / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository To be the first to receive news of Jade Kerrion's latest book releases, sign up for her New Release Mailing List. If Perfection Challenge makes it to the bookstores before September 17th, you'll be among the first to know. Connect with Jade Kerrion: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Monday, 19 August 2013

The Rules of You and Me


The Rules of You and Me by Shana Norris

Publisher: N/A
Release Date: June 24th/2013
Pages: 191
Type: ARC
Goodreads
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What It's About!

Hannah Cohen has always lived her life by a set of carefully constructed rules to maintain the image of perfection. But now, the rules aren’t helping control the chaos that is quickly taking over.

Opting out of spending the summer in Paris with her mom, Hannah instead heads to the mountains of North Carolina to stay with her aunt. The Blue Ridge Mountains provide a barrier between Hannah and the rest of the world, a safe haven where her secrets can be forgotten.

When Hannah crosses paths with Jude Westmore, a guy who hangs a different shirt from the tree in his front yard every day, she finds herself breaking out of the comfort of her rules and doing things she had never dared before. As the summer passes, Hannah and Jude grow closer and make up their own rules for dealing with life.

But when the secret Hannah has tried to forget is finally revealed, even the new rules can’t save her from possibly losing everything–including Jude.

Review

The Rules of You and Me was a really light, quick read but I really enjoyed it. It was very simple yet it still got me wrapped up in the characters and their stories. Even though I haven't read The Boyfriend Thief yet and wasn't familiar with the characters, I didn't feel like I missed anything by not reading the other book. The Rules of You and Me is actually a spin-off type sequel though, just like Katie McGarry's books.

Hannah started out as an uptight, never-break-the-rules kind of girl, but by the end, she had grown a lot as a person. Especially after meeting Jude, who lost his brother in the Army. Hannah had all these rules her mother drilled into her ever since she can remember, to try and mold Hannah into the exact person she wanted. Hannah pretty much let this happen because she didn't know any different. That is, until she visited her Aunt for the summer and everything slowly changed.

Jude also came out of his shell a lot and grew as a person. I love how both characters seemed to kind of grow together also, and it was so gradual that it was very believable. Some parts of the book were sad, others were heartwarming and there was one or two parts near the end that were totally heart-wrenching!

Rating 

Sunday, 18 August 2013

Ignite Me


Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: February 4th/2014
Pages: 352
Type: Paperback
Goodreads
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What It's About!

The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

 

Saturday, 10 August 2013

Everneath


Everneath (Everneath #1) by Ashton Brodi

Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: January 24th 2012
Pages: 370
Type: Paperback
Goodreads
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What It's About!

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.

Review

Everneath was so-so for me. The story took forever to actually get anywhere to the point where I actually stopped reading it for a few months before I picked it up again.

The main character Nikki drove me INSANE. She was alright at first, until her stupidity dragged on throughout the entire book. SO many things were so painfully obvious and right in her face that there was no way she could NOT know, but she was too stupid to see them. There were so many moments when I'd be reading and be like Really, Nikki? REALLY? She was just so dense she made me want to shake her and make her wake up to reality. Her character was also very flat. Flat and dumb. I just wanted to punch some smarts into this girl!

Even Cole, the supposed bad guy had more to offer than she did. He started out as a creep but slowly transitioned into someone a little different even though he shouldn't have been able to. My favorite character was Jack, he was your simple, down-to-earth guy and the only one who seemed to have any brains. I was Team Jack all the way ;)

The ending of the story was what made me give this book any stars at all. It was so emotionally enthralling that I couldn't put it down until the very last page. I might even end up reading the second book, but I'll probably just end up borrowing it from the library if I do. I think if the beginning of the book had been as captivating and well done as the end, I would have loved the book. But it was boring until the last bits of it, it was such a snore-fest up until then. 

Rating 

Monday, 5 August 2013

Othermoon


Othermoon (Otherkin #2) by Nina Berry

Publisher: K-Teen
Release Date: January 29th/2013
Pages: 320
Type: ARC
Goodreads
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What It's About!

Everyone has secrets. I had no idea mine would lead me into shadow. Dez has found the place where she belongs. With the otherkin. With Caleb. Or so she thought. As the barriers between our world and Othersphere fall, a wall rises between Dez and Caleb, leaving her fiercest enemy her only friend.

And maybe something more.

Now Dez must make a devastating choice: keep the love of her life, or save the otherkin from annihilation.

Review

Since I had really loved the first book, Otherkin, I had gone into this book having some pretty high expectations. I guess they were a little too high, though, for I couldn't quite get into it for the first quarter of the book. It was really slow and boring.

After setting it down and taking a break from it, however, I ended up really enjoying it. Especially near the end when things get super heated and exciting! There was also a part in the book that made me want to cry, I don't understand why writers all think they have to break couples up all the time, why can't just one couple be strong enough to stay together, no matter the jealousy, and anything else? WHY can't any of the characters ever stick around long enough to find out that what they think is totally different from the truth?

Anyway, back to my review. I thought the plot twists in this one were amazing. It was 10x better than the first book. I just couldn't get enough! Othermoon emotionally pulled me in a lot more than the first book did, I have to admit. I think it's because in this second book, I already knew the characters and had time to get attached to my favorite ones before I even started reading this book. I just loved it so much!

Yes, the beginning is boring and feels like the same old stuff as the first book, but once it picks up, it doesn't stop! 



Rating 

Saturday, 6 July 2013

The Truth About You & Me



The Truth About You & Me by Amanda Grace

Publisher: Flux
Release Date: September 8th/2013
Pages: 264
Type: ARC
Goodreads
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What It's About!

Smart girls aren't supposed to do stupid things.

Madelyn Hawkins is super smart. At sixteen, she's so gifted that she can attend college through a special program at her high school. On her first day, she meets Bennet. He's cute, funny, and kind. He understands Madelyn and what she's endured - and missed out on - in order to excel academically and please her parents. Now, for the first time in her life, she's falling in love.

There's only one problem. Bennet is Madelyn's college professor, and he thinks she's eighteen - because she hasn't told him the truth.


The story of their forbidden romance is told in letters that Madelyn writes to Bennet - both a heart-searing ode to their ill-fated love and an apology.


Review

The Truth About You & Me was really cute, but also sad. Madalyn, a 16 yr old girl going to college early, falls for her professor who is 10 yrs older than her. The book was really different, but in a good way, and I really liked it. Madalyn's view is told through a couple of letters she wrote to Bennett, her biology professor.

In his defense, he did think she was 18, fresh out of high school. There wasn't any real romance type stuff until the very end, but just the build up finally being together at the end made up for the lack of them being together, if that makes any sense. Madalyn writes a lot in her letters about them stealing little moments here and there, before December 17th, when the semester ends and he's no longer technically her teacher.

It's not until the very end though, that it's explained how and why their relationship ended. As the letters go on, you find out a little bit more here and there that they were once together but aren't anymore and it really made me want to know why. At first it was kind of frustrating because I wanted to find out why right away, but then I got so swept up in the emotion and unraveling of events that I soon found myself just coasting along with the story instead of rushing on to find out why everything happened the way it did and why they didn't end up with their happy ending.

I really liked the way the story unfolded in Madalyn's letters to Bennett. By the end of the book, I was just as heart broken and devastated as she was over the whole thing, it was hard not to get all wrapped up within her story and the way she told it. I really enjoyed it.


Rating 

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Roadtrip

I haven't done much reading the last week, my mom and I went to Vancouver, BC for the first time ever. We drove down..and had to drive around downtown Vancouver trying to find our hotel not having any clue where to go and the GPS kept taking us everywhere BUT. Ya..we pretty much literally got a bit lost in Vancouver, driving around in circles until we finally found the hotel. 


Then once we got everything into the hotel, it was time to head over to BC Place Stadium for the TAYLOR SWIFT concert! I was ssooooo excited! I've loved Taylor Swift ever since she came out with Teardrops On My Guitar and Tim McGraw. It was supposed to only be a 10 min. walk from the hotel to BC Place, but we ended up circling the block once or twice trying to figure out which way to go. Needless to say, we ended up knowing some street corners and roads better than others just from seeing them so many times trying to find our way. In the end though, it was so worth it.

Taylor Swift is by far the BEST concert I've ever been to, and I've been to quite a few. SHE'S JUST SO AMAZING. Even in between her costume changes and songs when she wasn't on stage, there was still one of her band or dance members doing their one little quick thing up on stage so it didn't feel like you had to wait at all for Taylor to come back on stage, it was really cool. My favorite one was when the female violinist did this whole dance routine thing while PLAYING the violin! She was incredible! 

Since I can't totally explain in words how AWESOME Taylor's opening performance was, I've posted a video below that I took at the concert.

**Video Coming Soon!**

She did a few songs on the main stage, then made her way through the crowd to the smaller stage near the back of the stadium, which I loved since we were at the very top at the very back.



After dancing around singing with her dancers, she did a couple songs by herself on the small rotating sage. It even lifted up!




Unfortunately, just after this, my camera died -_- I have many more pictures, but I didn't want to post them all and bore you guys all to death haha. I will post a Roadtrip Part 2 in the next day or two and share some pics and stuff of the Vancouver Aquarium which was really fun!

                                            



Thursday, 27 June 2013

Stacking the Shelves


Here are the books I've gotten in the last few months (probably since around Christmas time!). I've mostly gotten eBooks for review, and books off of Netgalley, so I didn't get many physical copies the last few months.






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