W.W.W. Wednesdays (17)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions and leave your link at Should Be Reading:

1. What are you currently reading?

2. What did you recently finish reading?

3. What do you think you'll read next?

Let The Countdown Begin: 23 Days

Let The Countdown Begin: 24 Days

Musing Mondays (2)

Musing Mondays is a weekly event where MizB from <a href=”http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/”>Should Be Reading</a> asks a reading related question, and you answer thoughtfully.

This week’s musing asks…

• Do you read books that are part of a series?

• Do you collect all the books in the series before starting? What if the series is brand new, and the only book that’s been published so far is Book one? As subsequent books in the series are published, do you go back and re-read the preceding books?

Of course I read books in a series! I love following the same characters throughout multiple books. I get really bothered, though, with long series. The House of Night series is getting kind of annoying because there are just so many books.

If I start the series after all the books are out, I will try to get all at once. But if I start it at the beginning, no, I won't wait for all books to come out before starting the series. 

When a new book in a series comes out, I do go back and re-read the others. I just like to refresh my mind on what happens. 

Let The Countdown Begin: 25 Days

Let The Countdown Begin: 26 Days

Let The Countdown Begin: 27 Days

Let The Countdown Begin: 28 Days

Let The Countdown Begin: One Month

W.W.W. Wednesdays (16)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions and leave your link at Should Be Reading:

1. What are you currently reading?

2. What did you recently finish reading?

3. What do you think you'll read next?

W.W.W. Wednesdays (15)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions and leave your link at Should Be Reading:

1. What are you currently reading?

2. What did you recently finish reading?

3. What do you think you'll read next?

Review: My Fairytale Life by Heather White

Goodreads Description:

17 year old Jadyn and her dad are vampire hunters. That is until her dad decides it's time for Jadyn to have a "normal" life. When he moved them to Miami, Florida the last thing Jadyn expected was for there to be vampires.

Jadyn doesn't want to have a normal life, but then she starts to make new friends. She starts to think that maybe a normal life might not be so bad after all. But soon she realizes that maybe her friends aren't "human" as she once thought they were.

On top of everything else a very powerful vampire, Tabatha, seeks revenge on Jadyn. People from her school start disappearing, and people start dying. She wants to stop the deaths, but Tabatha has other plans for her.

Can Jadyn stop the one vampire that is impossible to kill before its too late?

First Sentence: “I woke up to the sound of Timothy screaming. I didn’t understand what was going on. I jumped out of bed quickly and walked to my door. I started to go out into the hallway to check it out, but I was stopped by my mom.”

Originality: Absolutely My Fairytale Life is an original story. Well, I guess I did see a lot of outside influence. But, I mean, that happens. An author has to get their ideas from somewhere right? Mainly I was reminded of The Vampire Diaries (show not series; I haven’t finished the series), Night World, and a little of Twilight. Thankfully I love all three of those series and seeing some of the same concepts in My Fairytale Life was grrrrreat!

Characters: I. Love. Jadyn. And her dad. And Beau. And Erica. And, *sighs*, Jeremy. First of all, Jadyn is such a BA character. She hunts vampires! Come on, that is unique. Usually in vamp stories the girl falls in love with the “sensitive vampire who only wants to do good for the world”. But nope. She kills them. It’s awesome J Her dad is just amazing and they have a good sense of communication with each other, which is expected considering they’ve been fighting vampires together most of her life. Beau is super sweet. He was Jadyn’s first real friend. Erica is also cool. She’s dark and a little spooky, although you don’t see that at first. Jeremy, however, is my absolute favorite. He is so flippin’ hot. Well, okay, he is in my imagination. He’s funny, kinda arrogant, but all around a perfect guy.

Content: Evil vampires? Check. Vampire slayer? Check. Three great friends? Check. What more could you want from a story?? Even every little small detail built the story in unimaginable ways. Seriously, the fact that Jadyn loves Dr. Pepper made my love for this book grow.

Setting: My Fairytale Life is set in Miami, Florida. I know you’re probably thinking, “Miami? Vampire story? No way.” That’s exactly why Jadyn’s dad chose to move there. Unfortunately, a shot at normalcy didn’t end up the way he planned.

Overall Enjoyment: I want more of Jadyn and co. I’m going through withdrawals already. My Fairytale Life began ‘in medias res’, which means right in the middle of action. I wasn’t bored a single moment throughout reading this book. The story was great, I can’t wait for #2 in the series, and I know that if you were to pick up this book right now you wouldn’t be able to stop reading.

Review; Guardians: The Girl by Lola St. Vil

Amazon.com Description

Emmy - a bookish, witty student - is rescued by six teenaged angels with powers, called Guardians. They've been sent to elicit the secret from her before the demons can. Emmy later learns that her name is the only clue to locating a sought-after bridge that for centuries, Evil has plotted to destroy; this would in turn bring about the end of humanity.

Things get worse when Emmy falls madly in love with Marcus, the well-intentioned but obstinate leader of the Guardians. He eventually confesses that he is in love with her as well. Unfortunately, Marcus has been warned by his clairvoyant and omniscient guide that should he and Emmy get together, the mission will fail and humanity will perish.

First Sentence: “Okay, it’s official: I’m a coward. No one is in class today but me—and the new twin foreign exchange

students from Japan.”

Originality: Are you freaking kidding me? No question Guardians is original. This is the single most original story I have read in the longest of time. Sure, I saw some things that I’m sure were influenced by other stories, but that definitely didn’t make it a “copy”. Not at all. At first Guardians sort of reminded me of City of Bones, but, dare I say, better. So. Much. Better.

Characters: Okay. I absolutely love Emmy. Oh my goodness, I love all of the characters. Well, not the bad guys. But I’m not supposed to love them, right?? As you can see from the little synopsis above, there are six teenaged angels also involved. They are: Marcus, Rio, Miku, Ameana, Jay, and Reese. Marcus is the leader of the group, but…Reese is my favorite out of them all, though you don’t see enough of him as you should. Jay is cute, but way too flirty. Miku and Rio are twins and they are...well, mysterious. You don’t learn much about them in this first book of the series, but hopefully we get more of their background story later on. And Ameana?? She’s just a jealous b-, I mean, …not nice person. xD

Content: So, the Guardians are technically angels, but they seem so much like real people. They have flaw just like everyone else. I liked that. They weren’t all perfect. The whole “Good vs. Evil” story just took a new twist with this book. With traditions, anecdotes, a creepy six-year-old, and a good love story, you’re sure to fall for Guardians.

Setting: Well, Guardians was set in New York. Mainly. I mean, they travel other places few times. But really? With a story this great, who cares what the setting is?? Even so, New York fit the story perfectly and was described very well.

Overall Enjoyment: I just keep wanting more. This is definitely something I will re-read, several times. The ending had my face going like this: O.O, and my thoughts trailing in the direction of “Oh. My. Flippin’. Omnis.” [Read the book, you’ll understand ;) ] This work is beautiful, truly beautiful.

I post this review in great hopes that you will go to Amazon right now and purchase “Guardians: The Girl” by the wonderful Lola St. Vil. You will not be disappointed. 

Review: Fallen in Love by Lauren Kate

<3  <3  <3 <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  

Goodreads Description:

What makes your heart race a little faster? Just in time for Valentine's Day, it's FALLEN IN LOVE, four wholly original new stories collected in a new novel set in the Middle Ages by Lauren Kate. FALLEN IN LOVE gives fans the much-talked about but never-revealed stories of FALLEN characters as they intertwine with the epic love story of Luce and Daniel. The stories include: Love Where You Least Expect It: The Valentine of Shelby and Miles , Love Lessons: The Valentine of Roland; Burning Love: The Valentine of Arriane; and Endless Love: The Valentine of Daniel and Lucinda.

Originality: Hmm.. I thought Fallen in Love was semi-original. I liked the meshing of several main characters from the Fallen Characters, showing different sides of the story, showing each characters’ life instead of just the life of Luce and Daniel.

Characters: Luce and Daniel, the main characters of the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, are still present in this short story, but they aren’t the focus this time, or at least they aren’t the entire story. Fallen in Love also highlights the lives of Shelby and Miles, Luce’s friends; Roland, one of the fallen angels, er, demons; and Arriane, the lovely angel who’s also fallen.

Content: Hands-down the content was perfect for this time of the year. As most of you should know, it’s almost Valentine’s Day. What a great way to celebrate that?  And, irony, the book was also set on Valentine’s Day, and the night before.

Setting: Fallen in Love was set during the Middle Ages before, and during, a Valentine’s Day Faire. Notice the ‘e’ at the end of ‘fair’? Yeah. Medieval spelling right there ;) Lol

Well, if you’ve read Passion, the most recent book of the Fallen series, you’d know that the characters have done a lot of time-traveling, so it wasn’t really a bad scene to pick. It was actually the best scene to choose from. I mean, the Renaissance time period, starting anew, perfect thing for these characters.

Overall Enjoyment: To sum it up, I loved this mini addition to the Fallen series. It made me not feel so cynical about Valentine’s Day like I usually do. And that’s great when a book can make you feel something. I’m still undecided about whether or not this is an essential part of the series. Some aspects definitely build the plot, but you don’t really need these details to understand it all. So, ultimately, yes, I would recommend this, but only if you’ve read Fallen, Torment, and Passion by Lauren Kate. Just pointing out that Rapture, the fourth and final book of the Fallen series, is set to be released in June J

<3  <3  <3 <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  

Review: Kissed by an Angel, and Evercrossed, by Elizabeth Chandler

Goodreads Description:

An angelic romantic suspense trilogy in one volume!

"Kissed by an Angel": Ivy and Tristan have the love of a lifetime--until Tristan dies in a car accident. Now Tristan returns as an angel, but Ivy is unable to feel his presence.

"The Power of Love": Tristan has learned that the person responsible for the car crash is after Ivy. Can he cross the boundaries of life and death to warn Ivy that she is in trouble?

"Soulmates": Tristan must rescue Ivy, but if he does so his mission will be finished and he will have to leave his true love forever.

Goodreads Description:

It’s been a year since Ivy’s boyfriend, Tristan, died. They’ve both moved on—Tristan to the other side of the afterlife, and Ivy to sweet, dependable Will. Now Ivy’s heading to Cape Cod, hoping to leave the horror of last summer behind. She wants nothing more than to lie on the beach, sip lemonade, and hang out with her friends.

           

But then a car crash ends Ivy’s life.

As she floats to the beyond, looking down on the life she’s left behind, Tristan breathes life back into her with a passionate kiss. She wakes up in the hospital, surrounded by Will and her family, but all she can think about is the love that she lost.

But memories aren’t all that’s come back from the past. And this time, Ivy’s not sure love will be enough to save her.

	Kissed by an Angel	Evercrossed
Originality:	I thought that both were original in that Tristan seemed like a “real” angel, the type you’d generally hear about along with some miracle. He wasn’t like angels you usually read about that are straight from “The Fall” with Lucifer aka Satan. He was the true form of what I have in mind when I picture an angel.
Characters:	Kissed by an Angel was told in third person, from the points of view of both Ivy and Tristan. They were accompanied by friends and family; Philip, Gregory, Beth, Will, Eric, Suzanne, etc. I absolutely loved everyone, even if they were a bad guy. I felt like every character could be related to. Like Beth, for example. She’s a writer who always has a pen and paper with her. She is always writing, writing, writing. I think so many of my author friends could identify with Beth ;)	Evercrossed was only told from Ivy’s perspective, still third person. This time she was with Beth, living with Beth’s aunt and her two..cousins? I think they were her cousins. Or maybe one of them was. Hm.. Anyways, there were new people introduced in the story that I hope have roles in the future. I was upset at the lack of old characters, though. Like Suzanne. She was such an important part in Kissed by an Angel and she wasn’t even present in Evercrossed. I think she was mentioned, like, twice.
Content:	The content was great for both. It wasn’t just about Ivy and Tristan’s relationship lasting beyond death. It was somewhat of a mystery story. I was always on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. I have to say, I was shocked at so many things when I first read Kissed by an Angel. This was my second time reading it, and I was still surprised at events because I didn’t remember them.
Setting:	Kissed by an Angel was set in upscale New York. It wasn’t the busy city you mostly get when dealing with NY. It was more secluded. The neighborhood was for the richer kids, yet the book didn’t give off that snobby, “we’re better than you because we have money” feel.	Evercrossed was set in Cape Cod. You don’t really get the idea of the beach, though. Cape Cod is right on the Eastern shore. To me, there just wasn’t enough of that being portrayed. If you’re looking for something to delve more into the Cape, I’d suggest reading Melody, well, the whole Logan series, by V.C. Andrews. She really knows how to describe her scenery to where you feel like you’re there with the characters.
Overall Enjoyment:	Kissed by an Angel was originally published in the mid-‘90s and technically consists of three separate books. However, I have the new, re-released version that mashes all three books into one. Evercrossed was published very recently. Obviously there were a lot of differences. Evercrossed was more modern. I kind of hoped it would still be like Kissed by an Angel. I love books published before 2000 J Overall, I really enjoyed re-reading Kissed by an Angel, but I was disappointed by Evercrossed, which I bought in August but just now read. I don’t think Evercrossed needed to be written. I thought the series was fine how it ended in Kissed by an Angel. There was enough closure in the end, no cliffhangers that made me expect a sequel. Now, with how Evercrossed ended, I know there’s definitely going to be more. I believe the next book is called Everlasting, but I’m not sure.