Google+ Secret Book Lover: March 2013

Sunday 31 March 2013

Happy Easter (!!!!) and Fandom

Happy Easter guys! Did you ungraciously consume your weight in chocolate? I know I did! Anyway, I pretty much spent the day inside catching up on The Vampire Diaries (now that I have a break from school). Does anyone else think that Klaroline is adorable? I ship them so hard, I swear it'll be the end of me.

Seriously, how can you not love this:



Gif time!



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Anyway, sorry for my mindless fandom! Happy Easter!

Friday 29 March 2013

Feature & Follow Friday

Feature & Follow

This is a brilliant blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison at Alison Can Read to gain new blog followers and make friends! Every week they both host two different "Features" - two different blogs from the Linky list below. 

So drop a line! Say "Hi" and check out some new blogs you've never come across before - you never know, they could be pretty cool!

Here are the RULES:

  1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
  2. (Required) Follow the Featured Bloggers
  3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
  4. Grab the pic up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
  5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
  6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
  7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
  8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
Here are the rest of the blogs, check them out!

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Review


PREMISE
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.  (Courtesy of Goodreads.)

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This is another one of those "I bought the book because I just saw the movie and it was amazing" types of things. The movie was pretty brilliant, but it just left out some things (all movies do, right?) that made me glad I bought the book.

Ethan Wate is striving to get through his last two years of school so he can leave Gatlin, the tiny Southern town he lives in. (Apparently there are only two types of people in Gatlin: "The stupid and the stuck".)
Anyway, every night he has this dream, where he tries to save this girl and fails. Every night, and while he never remembers her face, she smells like lemons and rosemary.

Next thing you know, new girl's in town. The mysterious town shut-in's niece. Guess what she smells like. Uh-huh, lemons and rosemary. Ethan is naturally curious and forms a tentative friendship with the new Lena Duchannes. (He totally has the hots for her!) He knows something's up and eventually get's in on the witchy business. Together they face Southern small-minded prejudice, hostile relatives, ominous prophecies and various other run-of-the-mill teenager stuff. They even manage to sneak some kissing in there. I'm impressed.

See, when Lena turns sixteen she thinks she is going to turn into a witch bitch rather than just a witch. There's a curse on her family that means she's going to be "Claimed" for Light or Dark - and she reckons she's going Dark. However, while she and Ethan are working on trying to break the curse, musty old skeletons are coming out of closets everywhere and some meddling Dark family show up in town...

I really liked this book. It was especially good for a YA, what with all the restrictions placed upon them nowadays. It managed to be dark and a little edgy but kept it cool for the teens. I liked the balance in it because it wasn't all school and popularity games, and there weren't three other "best friends" waiting to get in on it so they could form some sort of hormone-filled, misfit-led, ragtag band of Fantastic Five wannabees. The characters were mature (for the most part) and just cool

I also thought Ethan was awesome. I liked that there wasn't anything special about him. He had no superpowers, yet he still managed to help and protect Lena. I liked that and thought it made the story more realistic.

This book took me awhile to read though. Okay, it's long but I normally just dive under my covers with a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk and don't resurface until a book's finished. There was a bit of a lag in the middle though and I had difficulty getting back into it. However, the end kind of exploded in my face, in twist after twist of "I did not see that coming!", so I think it made up for it. :)

I think I'll give this book:
Four hats! It was enchanting!

Monday 25 March 2013

Releases and Updates

Okay. This is the first time I've sat down at a computer in three days. Three. Whole. Days.
That's a new record for me, because I've been so swamped with stuff that I couldn't post. I'm sorry you guys, I'll do better next time!

So, because I missed out on two really great memes: Top 5 Sunday and Feature & Follow, I'm going to review Beautiful Creatures instead. Look out for that post soon!

Meanwhile: Twice Tempted comes out tomorrow!!!! I have been waiting for this book since June last year and have been going through some serious Vlad withdrawal. Seriously, how can you not love this?:


Anyway, my copy is pre-ordered and I'll be posting my review ay-sap (as per usual). *squeals*

Lots and lots of love,

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Review - Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Hey guys! I am so happy to be reviewing this book! If you've read last Sunday's Top Five list, then you'll know that Acheron is one of my top five Favourite Book Boyfriends. So let's do this!



PREMISE

Eleven thousand years ago, a god was born. Cursed into the body of a human, Acheron spent a lifetime of shame. But the strongest steel is forged from the fires of hell…

Acheron’s human death unleashed an unspeakable horror that almost destroyed the earth. Then, brought back against his will, he became the sole defender of mankind. Only it was never that simple. For centuries, Acheron has fought for our survival and hidden a past he’ll do anything to keep concealed. Until a lone woman who refuses to be intimidated by him threatens his very existence. Now his survival—and ours—hinges on hers, and old enemies reawaken and unite to kill them both. War has never been more deadly...or more fun.


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This book will make you cry. It will make you scream and groan and want to rip out the pages. Ash goes through a lot - a lot - of crap in his life and this is definitely not a light read. I just thought I'd warn you.

*The book is divided into two parts, and for the sake of this review (and my sanity) I'm going to call them Forsaken and Saved.*

In the first part of the book, Ash is Forsaken.
In this part of the book we follow Acheron from birth to just after his twenty-first birthday. This is were all the shit happens and were we learn about all the stuff that makes Ash, well, Ash. The gist of it (without giving away spoilers!) is that Ash was fated to live a life being loved, but a A Series of Unfortunate Events transpired and he spent his entire human life being ground so far down into the earth, that he came out the other side.

Not fun.

This goes on for awhile, but then Ash gets Saved.
We all get transported to the twenty-first century where Ash meets his match in a beautiful, geeky woman named Soteira. Now that the Ash we all know and love is back - witty sarcasm included - we finally get to see some romance!

I have to say, this book made me fall in love with Ash all over again. You really have to read it to appreciate him and understand the 'why's behind his decisions. I also liked the depth of the world-building and the plot-twists, as well as the characters themselves. It was a good, well-rounded and intense read.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series - and to anyone who loves a good hero. I give it:

Four hats - I was enchanted!


Monday 18 March 2013

Top Five Sundays!



As part of a weekly meme hosted by Larissa at Larissa's Bookish Life, I'm posting a Top Five list every Sunday! Today's theme is: Favourite Book Boyfriends! Damn, this one's going to be hard for me...

Alright, here we go:

Jeff Martini
What can I say? He's perfect! Funny, cute, charming, has super enhanced alien appendages....he's got it all!


Jeff Christopher
Wow. Lots and lots of Jeffs here. Huh. Anyway, this particular Jeff is one of my faves because he's such  a lovable geek! He can hack and 'commandeer' satellites like that *snaps fingers* and he's a shifter! Who kicks ass!  *sigh*


Hawke
He takes Alpha Male to a whole new level - but day-um is he hot! Yep, he could be my boyfriend any day...


Acheron
Ash is the most adorable destruction god you've ever met. If you've read his book (and cried, everyone cried) then you understand why I would grab him and never let him go...If you haven't read it, then do it now! The link is below. Ash is my book boyfriend though, so don't you dare think of stealing him!


And last but not least:

Syn
He's a master thief/assassin/hacker/hottie. How can you not love him? He is just so vulnerably sarcastic! Is that even a thing? Well, it is now.