Review - Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

So I started and finished Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev within the last 36 hours. Took me about 10 pages to understand how it worked, but after that I absolutely loved it! Another one that is completely different than anything I've ever read before. And I love Bertie. She's great. Her little Faerie friends are too funny!

I'm totally rooting for Nate over Ariel anyway. Of course, that could just be because I totally dig pirates. :-P And unless Ariel finds a way to redeem himself in the 2nd book, I'm still not going to like him. LoL.

Completely surprise twist about Berties mom (no spoilers!) that I loved as well.

Definitely a must read. I can't wait to go pick up the second book. I know it's been out for a long time, but I've been waiting for my tax return to buy this one. I give it two thumbs up! Check it out.

Take Me Home

Well, I've been gone for a week. Computerless even (Oh the HORROR). But I'm back. :-)

I did finish The Cowboy. And yeah... great book. My opinion of the back cover (remember I thought Trace was controlling and manipulative and a real jerk? Yeah... COMPLETELY wrong). I highly recommend anyone who's reading this to go get a copy. Or borrow it from the library.

ALSO...

In the last week I have started and finished Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies. It was a book I picked up from the library last week and I must admit... I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't sure I would, as it's about talking deer. BUT. It is kind of like Harry Potter... but with deer. Very cool. I don't have like, a formal review or anything for it. And right now I'm unfortunately too tired to type one up. But there wasn't a minute while I was reading it that I thought "WOW this is boring". I really couldn't put it down. It was great. Another one you should go check out from your library/friend/local bookstore.

I also finished Afterlight by Elle Jasper. It took it a while to totally grip me and suck me into the story (and by a while I mean 20 pages) but after that it was another one that I just couldn't put down. I mean, come on. A chick that's a wicked awesome tattoo artist and vampires. This was not a "Twilight-esque" book (and don't get me wrong, I love Twilight). Riley Poe isn't the sort of girl who just falls all over herself over the love of her life or who NEEDS someone to protect her from all the dangers of the world. I mean, the damsel in distress type of story is only appealing for so long. Riley can definitely hold her own in a crazy situation. Great book from the Dark Ink Chronicles. Can't wait for Everdark to come out in June!

And last but not least, while I was away I received a nifty little prize from brand new author Courtney Allison Moulton. Angelfire is her debut novel (just hit shelves YESTERDAY) and I'm really excited to read it. You all should go check out her blog for lots of fun stuff about her book!

She's wicked sweet and nice to chat with (and she loves horses!). I actually won another contest of hers a while back where I received a copy of Percy Jackson from her.

So... that's been my exciting week. I'm off to figure out which library book to dive in to next, and tomorrow will be a long awaited trip to the bookstore where I'm hoping to find copies of Angelfire, Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater, and whatever else I can get my mitts on.

Ciao!

Eat Crow

Ok... so I'm almost done with The Cowboy by Joan Johnston and I have to tell you... my reactions now are complete opposite from what they were when I read the back cover. Turns out, I'm totally rooting for Trace and it's CALLIE that ticks me off.

Little bit of a spoiler:

Callie tells Trace that they can never be together after finding out that Trace's brother accidentally injured Callie's brother and now he'll never walk again. Then, when Trace comes back to Texas 11 years later and wants another chance with Callie, she's MAD AT HIM FOR LEAVING. Um, HelLO??? You told him to leave lady. If you told him that you can NEVER be together, why in the world would he stick around.

::facepalm::

Ok, I have to go try and finish that book tonight so I can start in on my library finds.

Happy reading!

DeadTown

Wicked excited to report that I won a contest from the Love Fantasy SciFi Novels blog by Siobhan. As of Wednesday signed copies of DeadTown and HellForged will be on their way to little ol' ME! Yay.

You should definitely check her page out on facebook. AND go to her blog as well. She also has another one called Thoughts of a Mad Hatter that's totally cute where she reviews everything ELSE (meaning everything but fantasy/sci fi novels).

Can't wait!

Alex Day

Now, I have to preface this by saying that I love Twilight. And I'm talking about the books right now. Forget Taylor Lautner and Rob Pattinson for a moment. I'm solely talking about the page turning novels. I love the entire saga. New Moon being my favorite.

WITH THAT BEING SAID -

I love the website Reasoning With Vampires. It's funny when you look at it. She points out how poorly the books were written and the grammatical/logical/etc errors are. Again, I love the Twilight series, but this is good stuff. I highly recommend you all check it out. Now, through that website I found Alex Day (aka nerimon) who reads Twilight on YouTube and he's absolutely hilarious. Also something you should definitely check out.

Sorry Stephenie! I really do love Twilight, I promise!

I Had To Do It

My need to read overcame my need to replenish my store of books.

I had to go to the library to fax something to work, and the girls wanted their own library cards, so we did that. And of course, having your own library card means you HAVE to check out books with it... obviously. So the girls got books. Why, I couldn't be left out so I went and snagged some of my own.

Now, they're not books that I had on my reading list, although they all look interesting, there were other books I wanted to read first. BUT... as I couldn't find any books ON my reading list, I took what I could get. And I'm satisfied with the results. I've got plenty to read.

I will finish The Cowboy by Joan Johnston, I started it, and I can't just put it down (first few pages show me that Trace is the COMPLETE opposite of what I thought). I may have to read more than 1 book at a time to get them all taken care of. No sweat. Do it all the time. Oy. Five books in 2 weeks.

Without furtherr ado -

I got Ironside because I'd read Tithe and enjoyed it. I got Fire Bringer because I'd read the summary on Amazon so many times, but could never bring myself to buy it. The other two I've seen and they look interesting so here's to hoping they all live up to my expectations!

The Cowboy

Well, I'm in bed right now, sick as a dog (hmmm wonder where that saying came from... 'scuse me while I google it... "Sick as a dog is actually the oldest of them, recorded from 1705; it is probably no more than an attempt to give force to a strongly worded statement of physical unhappiness. It was attached to a dog, I would guess, because dogs often seem to have been linked to things considered unpleasant or undesirable; down the years they have had an incredibly bad press, linguistically speaking (think of dog tired, dog in the manger, dog’s breakfast, go to the dogs, dog Latin — big dictionaries have long entries about all the ways that dog has been used in a negative sense)". found this on yahoo's answer site... saying still makes no sense), drinking water like it's a chocolate cake and I'm hungry for sweets. Was out of books to read.

THE HORROR.

No seriously. I've read all the books I came to VA with, and unfortunately, have left some in Maine that I did not mean to leave behind (ie. Afterlight by Elle Jasper). Cue sad face.

So I was harumphing around trying to figure out what to read next when my mom plopped a book in front of me (almost, she accidentally left it on the porch, so technically I plopped it down in front of myself) called The Cowboy by Joan Johnston.

Not. A. Fantasy/Paranormal/Supernatural/Sci-Fi. Book.

But that's ok. Because honestly? If someone gives me a book I will read it, regardless of what kind it is.

From what I've read on the back, there was some sort of dispute between Trace Blackthorne's family and Callie Creed's family. Sounds like a Romeo and Juliet type of situation. So anyway, Trace has apparently been gone for some time and when he comes back he finds Callie. And Trace is the type of man who takes (not goes after, but, takes) what he wants. Sounds charming. :-X Trace proposes (hmmm... ultimatum?) to Callie. A marriage between the two is going to save Callie's family from the financial black hole they've been sucked in to. I guess Callie starts dwelling on the past and what drove the families apart and then has to make a choice BETWEEN her family and the man she loves (loves...really? he sounds kind of demanding to me).

I know they say don't judge a book by it's cover (does the description on the cover count?) so I'm trying not to dislike Trace before ever reading the story. I'll have to start it tomorrow and report back my findings. Hopefully the INSIDE of the book will read better than the outside.

I like Cowboys.

What is everyone else reading right now?

Review - Torment by Lauren Kate

I've finished Torment by Lauren Kate.

I must say that, while I loved Fallen, I liked Torment more.

For me, Fallen was kind of slow slow slow HOLY CRAP SPEED UP IT'S OVER. And not slow in a bad way, just not a whole lot of action. And then all of the sudden it was nothing BUT action and it left me kind of thinking "Umm..... what just happened?"

Torment was riddled with action. Not a LOT. But enough to keep me on my toes. So it wasn't so much of a shocker when the end rolled around and brought the fire with it. It was a great book. I was definitely rooting for Miles in this one though, vs. Daniel. Does that make me weird? Oh, you don't know who Miles is? Pssh. Guess you'll have to read the book to find out. ;-) Wontcha.

Totally can't wait for Passion to make its debut and wrap up the series. Exciting!

Before I wrap this up, I wanna throw a shout out to the artist/designer behind the amazing covers for the series. You can check out her Deviant Art Gallery and see all the rest of her stuff. Amazing.

Evanescence

It occured to me while watching a video of one of my favorite songs ever, that the covers for Lauren Kates books Fallen and Torment remind me of the video for Lithium. Just the whole environment in the video, background and all. The hair/skin color. The dress. The emotion.... weird how things like that jump out at you at the most random times.

Scuse my moment of obvious insanity. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!