Dec 31, 2015

Follow Friday

This is a weekly blog meme hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read.


Here are the general rules to Follow Friday:


1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts and any one else you want to follow on the list  
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If your new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!



This week's question is: What books are you most excited for in 2016? - Suggested by Alison Can Read



MY ANSWER: An ironically similar question to the Top Ten Tuesdays one! My most excited for read for 2016 is one I've already had the pleasure of reading and that was Remembrance by Meg Cabot! The first adult installment in The Mediator series! And it was everything I could've hoped for!!

To see some of my other reads I am excited for, jump over to this post here!





2015 Challenge Recap

I managed to complete all my goals for this year!!



 

   


      2015 Reading Challenge
   


       

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My Goodreads challenge was to read 100 books and I've read 142!



With my TBR Challenge I aimed for the 31-40 books and I read 38, which surpasses the goal in a way, because the base goal there is 31!




My other Challenge was to read 50+ real books and I surpassed that one for I read 75!!

It was definitely a good year!







Early Review--City of Light by Keri Arthur

When the bombs that stopped the species war tore holes in the veil between this world and the next, they allowed entry to the Others—demons, wraiths, and death spirits who turned the shadows into their hunting grounds. Now, a hundred years later, humans and shifters alike live in artificially lit cities designed to keep the darkness at bay....

As a déchet—a breed of humanoid super-soldiers almost eradicated by the war—Tiger has spent her life in hiding. But when she risks her life to save a little girl on the outskirts of Central City, she discovers that the child is one of many abducted in broad daylight by a wraith-like being—an impossibility with dangerous implications for everyone on earth.

Because if the light is no longer enough to protect them, nowhere is safe...


I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Keri Arthur brings us a whole new series that’s sure to enthrall readers as much as entertain! City of Light starts her new Outcast series and it’s quite the read! I am always amazed with how awesome her books are, even if there are a few hiccups in this one for me, it still managed to keep me gripping the pages and shunning society as I read!

The beginning takes a bit of back history and explaining and this is probably what had me the most confused at first. Eventually I was able to gather the details and put things together, but it was still a bit hazy in the beginning, as most “new world” stories are.

Tiger is a particular type of shifter known as dechet. She, along with her kind, was created to fight in the war against shifters and humans. She was meant to protect humanity and for her troubles, her kind was eradicated. For the past one hundred years, she has lived in seclusion with the ghosts of young children she was meant to protect, but ended up failing. The ghosts hold no grudges, in fact, the children are quite attached to her. There are adult ghosts as well, and they are more the angry at being dead type and are thirsty for revenge.

Her quiet life gets interrupted when she rescues a child being hunted by vampires, for in this world, vampires are the enemy. She rescues her along with her uncle, a shifter named Jonas who also happens to be a ranger; which makes him a possible enemy from the getgo, but he is injured and she promises the child that she will do all that she can to save him.

Tiger is then recruited with Jonas and his group to help rescue other children who had been kidnapped. There’s dark matters in the works here as wraiths and vampires start using the children for insidious needs.

City of Light has tons of action and suspense! And what goes best with those two? Why romance of course! Not only does Tiger learn that an old lover is still alive, but there’s some obvious tension brewing between her and Jonas despite the animosity between them at first sight. There’s sexual tension as well, you can tell that one wants the other but doesn’t want to want him/her, because, yes its goes both ways! I had fear of a love triangle beginning at the beginning of the series, but Keri does us triangle-haters proud and puts an end to that notion. I won’t say how that gets put to an end, because trust me, it’s a doozie! That said, there’s still plenty of steamy scenes in this one, Keri always writes toe-curling romance scenes that I have come to enjoy over the years!

The ending leaves you with quite the impact! Such heart-pounding danger and action that I was gripping the pages (gently!) as I hurried to see how Tiger gets out of the dicey predicament. And now I am left waiting nearly an entire year…November sometime, for the next book! I couldn’t take the pressure to read the excerpt that’s given to us, I’m a gluttony for punishment I guess! Just a taste of the next book always leaves me craving for more and more is not to be had until November. Or possibly earlier! Fingers crossed!

If you like your Urban Fantasy reads, gritty, edgy, and walking on the dark side then this read is meant for you! City of Light was a heart-pounding action read worth mentioning more than once! Aka it was GREAT!! ;)



Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars


City of Light releases January 5, 2016




 

Random Thursday

It's New Year's Eve!! Holy cow this year has gone by fast! What with losing my job at the beginning and then finally landing another at the end of August, this year has just been crazy! And now we're finally getting into 2016 which I've been waiting for for a LONG time! For many reasons!

Firstly, all the BOOKS! So many awesome books coming out this year! And I've already read my top most anticipated book, which was Remembrance by Meg Cabot! And I LOVED IT!!

If you haven't read the Mediator series yet, you need to!! This was early Paranormal YA and this series saved my sanity! I was already craving the Paranormal YA books at this time and yet they were SO hard to find in the YA section! I tell you, those were some serious dark days with no books to read! This was a series I discovered and loved from the getgo!


Another thing I am super excited for this year is BEA! It will be my first year attending and I am so excited!!

This will be super fun I can feel it!! Though I am still trying to find among you bloggers a roommate! Is anyone planning to go and want to bunk up? I have a hotel that's very close to the expo, maybe a mile or two's walk, if that! And it's reasonably priced as well! If you're wanting to bunk up feel free to shoot me an email! I will be bugging you guys endlessly with posts soon regarding this! So to put a stop to those before they start, send me an email now! LOL! ;) 

Email address is located in my review policy tab at the top of the blog in the header!


Another thing I am super excited about that I'm not even 100% sure is happening but am truly hoping is happening is a trip to Orlando!!

My family members have timeshares in Orlando and we're theoretically trying to plan a trip to go to Disney World sometime after the opening of the new Frozen ride in Epcot! So I am positively elated that we might be going back to the Happiest Place on Earth!!

Because I am most dying to see this particular castle the most:

Which yes, that's Belle's castle! And I also keep trying to nag at my family to set a date so we can try to make the reservations to eat at the castle, as I heard you really want to make reservations as early as possible and yeah that can be months is advance!!

And since we're planning an Orlando trip, I am also making it a PRIORITY that I NEED, repeat NEED to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It's an abject need! Just as Disney World is!

I'm hoping to at least get my sister or maybe even my aunt or cousin to go with me here! I think it's a place best experienced with someone else who's loved the series as much as I! Or at least enjoyed it in some part because I honestly don't know if my aunt or cousin has read the books. I know my sister has, but it's uncertain if she'd want to go. She's really weird and would rather not go to Disney World. I sometimes wonder how we're related...


So those are some things I am super excited for this year! Really hoping that the latter trip happens because I've been bouncing up the walls pretty much for a year and a half-ish, basically when they announced a Frozen ride would open in 2016!! 

Do you all have any special plans for 2016?









Dec 30, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday

I hate waiting...
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blog post by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights releases we're eagerly awaiting.


Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?


I just read Red Queen not too long ago and really liked it! While I couldn't get into the prequel, I am definitely excited for this one!!

TITLE: Glass Sword
AUTHOR: Victoria Aveyard
PUBLISHER: HarperTeen
GENRE: Fantasy/Dystopian

RELEASE DATE: February 9, 2016  



Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.

But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.

With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.
 



Super excited for this one because it just sounds so awesome! Love a good fantasy!! And Sophie is a favorite author of mine! So excited to see Victoria and Sophie when they tour for this in February!!


TITLE: Reign of Shadows
AUTHOR: Sophie Jordan
PUBLISHER: HarperTeen
GENRE: Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: February 9, 2016 





Dec 29, 2015

2015 End of the Year Book Survey

It's that time of year again to look over all the books I've read! Of course, there's still 2 more days and I might be able to squeeze in 1 more book before the end!




Number Of Books You Read: 141 books as of December 29th, possibly 142 before the 31st!
Number of Re-Reads: 0, I rarely have time for re-reads with too many new books to read!
Genre You Read The Most From: Paranormal (kind of 50/50 with Adult & YA)



1. Best Book You Read In 2015? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2015 release vs. backlist)

Going to have to break it down to my top 5, just 5! I seriously wanted to keep going too!




2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Sticking to 2015 books and not 2016 ones I read this year, I have to say I was a bit upset with this one. It just didn't go in the direction I had been expecting. It was quite upsetting in the long run.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

I had anticipated loving this one and I did! I wasn't expecting to love Daemon even more than I had! And let me tell you, the first book, Obsidian, in his point of view, gave me whole new insight to his douchery!

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

I guess I might have pushed these a lot before Halloween! I thought they were creepy incredible reads and I couldn't get enough of them!

5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

Best new series: Colleen Houck's Reawakened! I feel like I've been waiting forever for a new read from her and I LOVED this one!
Best Sequel: The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson, another amazing series that I am loving! This one was pretty awesome!
Best Series Ender: Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout, I was sooo happy with this one in every sense of the word!

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?

Danielle L. Jensen--loved this one! Such an interesting read and cannot wait for the finale next year!
Anne Bishop--I still need to read the next two books in the series, but I loved this one! It's the kind of paranormal read I always enjoy reading.
Jennifer Estep--I've had her first YA series in my TBR pile for ages, but then I got an ARC of her new one and I really enjoyed it! So I need to get to her first one soon!

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

This might be the closest I ventured out of my reading comfort zone. I enjoy the comic book movies, so having a book with super heroes in it and villains, sounded intriguing enough. And I already loved one of these authors, so it felt like a sure thing! And it was!!

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Deceptions was a good thrilling, mysterious kind of read! I love Kelley's books and this series is just the right combo of mystery, weird, and paranormal!
Swerve was Vicki Pettersson's first thriller and it was a-mazing!!

9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Again, I hardly ever re-read anymore! I have too many books I need to read for the first time still! :(

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

The Girl at Midnight--looove the gorgeous purples and starry sky! 
Reawakened--this one just screams Egyptian and mysterious
Oblivion--it's Pepe, need I say more?

11. Most memorable character of 2015?

Daemon Black, because always Daemon Black!

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?

While I couldn't get into TOG, I had no trouble at all falling in love with ACOTAR!!

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?

It's weird, but I felt like I could really connect to Mary Anne on some levels. I loved how strong of a character she grew to be even though she started out being a little more timid.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?



15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

"'There is always light. The stars are always shining, even if we can't see them.'" Chloe Neill's Dark Debt. I found this to be very inspiring!

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

Oblivion (kindle version): 1005 pages
Sudden Backtrack: 21 pages--but since this felt like more a scene, I also included one more novella:
The Wizard Returns: 71 pages

17. Book That Shocked You The Most (Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)

There were a lot of FEELS to this one! Jaw-dropping moments, tears, shocks, tears, agony, TEARS!!

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) (OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

 Because there's never just one...

Sydney and Adrian
Feyre & Tamlin
Nick & Willa


19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Wren and Lark, twin sisters that not even death can separate! Seriously, one sister is a ghost, yet they two still have an amazing bond with one another!

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Since that can pretty much describe EVERY book I've read this year by all my favorite authors, we'll just stick with one and it's a no-brainer too! LOL!



21. Best Book You Read In 2015That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:



22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?

Logan Echols--because he's now IN A BOOK!! LOL!
Jace--I wasn't a Team Jace fan in the original series but I totally fell in love with him this time around and love that he's with Abby now!

23. Best 2015 debut you read?

This one was all sorts of awesome and incredibleness!!

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

I guess with fantasies you except there to be superb world-building! And with a modern fantasy like TGAM, you just get blown away by all the awesomeness!

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?


While The Isle of the Lost was a little more MG, it was still fun to read and had me grinning because of the Disney goodness in it! Of course, good is not to be meant literally as we have some villains' kids in this one!
The Vampire's Mail Order Bride had me grinning a lot because I basically LOVE this world! I soooo want to move to Nocturne Falls!!


26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

With Salt & Stone, there was NO nearly crying! We're talking full on ugly tears!
Unchanged was more of the happy tears kind, but still a bit of sad tears to them!

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Alyssa returns to her Afterglow Trilogy with a whole new trilogy set with the Forged Chronicles! So excited to be back into this world again! Even if I did just start the original series this year!

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Reawakened's ending completely crushed me
Menagerie did a lot of soul crushing, then re-build, then crushing, then re-build!

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

Written in Red was unique with the way the paranormals lived and Survive the Night had a uniqueness to it that was freaking creepy!!

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

With Soul Crossed, it was more of a combo of mad and agonized/sad. There were just some events, little ones that left me very upset!



1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015?

 Reviews in a Pinch

The great thing about the Secret Santa project from The Broke and the Bookish is finding a new blogger friend!

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?

Definitely my review/gush fest of Oblivion!


3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

That could be almost any Random Thursday post! I always have fun with these but especially my Disney related ones! Here's one I found very interesting regarding the Evil Queen!


4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

That was probably Anderson's YA Lit Conference! There were so many of my favorite authors there that I had yet to meet, so it was a lot of fun! Especially since I just went for the Sunday portion!

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?

That would be just last week, when I received an ARC of Remembrance by Meg Cabot! The Mediator series was one of my very first favorite Paranormal YA series and to have yet another addition to the series but told in a more "adult" perspective of Susannah, was just awesome! It was my top most anticipated read for 2016 and I got it this year!

6. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

I'm a little technology-inclined. It's why I stay with Blogger despite having the occasional issue or two with it. So I'm struggling to find my most popular post! But with the set I'm being showed, my signup post for the 2016 TBR Pile Reading Challenge got over 350 views!


7. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

This kind of goes hand in hand with the previous question, technology-inclined! I used to be so much savvier as a kid! LOL! But yeah...not sure how to narrow things down. So I guess one post might be my review of Fatal Fortune by Victoria Laurie. But of course a lot of this can be related to interest, or not being caught up with the series and such.



8. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

Hmm...I suppose I just became more in the know of Society6 and how huge it is and how many bookish stores there are! It's wonderful, if a bit overwhelming!

9. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?


Yes I did! I read 141/100 books for my Goodreads Challenge

I read 38/31 for my TBR Challenge

I read 74/51 for my Real Book Challenge, and I am hoping it will be 75 before the end of Thursday what with my current read being a real book!



1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016? 

Six of Crows!! Heard SO many amazing things but with a lot of things going on and then a short stack of review books, this one keeps getting pushed back! But will read it as soon as I finish my review stack...most likely!

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)? 

Among the many, many...The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson! Sooo cannot wait to see how this series ends!

3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? 

Shallow Graves sounds sooo intriguing! I mean having a ghost as a main character is pretty much the way to get me intrigued! LOL!

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016? 

The Last Star by Rick Yancey is one I've been waiting for for a looooong time! Okay 2 years, but that's too long when this series is SO awesome!

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016? 

I know I might say this a lot...or not...I don't know! But I would really really like to try to get my book published! Currently it sits (possibly) with a publisher as back in November I submitted to Harper Voyager when they had "open calls" for unsolicited manuscripts. So I sent my in, but have yet to hear back from them one way or another.

My problem is that again, I'm not the most tech savvy, and it seems you really need that when it comes to self-publishing. I might try looking into some of the more smaller publishing houses as well that do primarily ebooks and what not. But this will be one of my top goals for next year!

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:


Remembrance by Meg Cabot--I tell you people, this series is AMAZING! I adored it as a teen and to have an adult installment is just freaking incredible! And I can say that you can read this one without having read the other amazing 6 books, but a few things might be confusing, when it comes to references and what not. Think of it like Veronica Mars! You can see and enjoy the movie, but you will enjoy it a MILLION times better if you seen the previous TV seasons!

Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor--I pick this one, just so you can start fresh instead of possibly adding another 7 books to your TBR pile, but note that those first 4 books comes from the early 2000s and then the next two were within the next 6 years, so they read super fast! But anyway...THIS book was incredible!! I hadn't expected to love it so much! Naturally, I had to go with the original cover art, because I find the new one so plain and dull. This one here however, is just awesome and is what led me to look at the book in the first place!