Book Haul of January 2016

Cinder
By Marissa Meyer
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. 

A Court Of Thorns And Roses
By Sarah J. Maas
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

 PlusOne
By Elizabeth Fama
A dying wish. A family divided. A love that defies the law.

Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge--a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays, who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol concocts a plan to kidnap her newborn niece--a Ray--in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. Sol's violation of the day/night curfew is already a serious crime, but when her kidnap attempt goes awry, she stumbles on a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population. Sol escapes the authorities with an unexpected ally: a Ray who gets in her way, a boy she might have hated if fate hadn't forced them on the run together--a boy the world now tells her she can't love.

 The Strange and beautiful sorrows of ava lavender 
By Leslye Walton
Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

 Forget Tomorrow
By Pintip Dunn
magine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your future self.

It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.

Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.

In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes the hellish prison. But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all. 

This year I have stacked up on books! Out of my huge pile, these five books are the ones I've chosen to share, for they're the ones I've been anticipating to read all year. What strike me the most about these five was not just the outstanding covers, but the unique plots. I'm super excited to start the adventure with these beauts and share with you all the wonders. Here's to a start of a new adventure and a new year!

A New Year

It's been 3 years since I've been on my blog. 3 years...
It saddens me that I've been away for such a long time, but when real life comes calling you must answer.
Now that my personal life has settled down (some what) I am making a come back! This year my goal is to try
and maintain my blog. Do note that I constantly work a lot (because being an assistant manager can take up personal time)
So I might not make a post every second, minute, hour, day or week, but I will try my best to post as much as I can.
This is me trying to make a come back and hopefully I can stick to it. I'm working on my first post tonight,
I do plan to have it up by then end of today. I don't do this blog to gain followers or be famous.
I do it because I love books. I love to read. It's my favorite hobby. This blog expresses my love for all books.
That's why I do this. To share with all of you how amazing reading a book can be. 

Review: Whispers at Moonrise

“You couldn't always control life, just your response to it.” 
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Book: 4 of 5
Pages: 383

Shadow Falls Camp is back in session with the most explosive installment yet.  A shocking new threat will rock Shadow Falls—changing it forever and altering Kylie’s journey in ways she never imagined.
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf.  With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible. As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante.  Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway.  Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever.   In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure.  Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.

"This has everything a YA reader would want....I read it over a week ago and I am still thinking about it. I can't get it out of my head. I can't wait to read more. This series is going to be a hit!" -Awesomesauce Bookclub 

My Thoughts: 
I can already tell you now that this book series will one day be made into a movie. How do I know that? Just by reading this series you can feel the suspense and thrill of adventure coming off the pages. Your immediately transferred into a world filled with non-stop mystery, drama, romance, and more. It's like the more you read the deeper you get into discovering something new that you never knew was there before. C.C. Hunter's way with fluidity of language in the novel kept me focused the entire time that I was reading. I pretty much got the book in the mail and read it all in that same day without putting it done, that's how brilliant it was!

C.C. Hunter knows how to take readers on an emotional rollercoaster; (Like Zayn Malik says "Just close your eyes and enjoy the rollercoaster that is life") and that's just what I did when stepping into the world of Shadow Falls. But I have to say the ending caught me off guard. I was not prepared and had been left speechless. All I could think was "Why?" and "I can't believe you would do this". By the time I could speak all I wanted to do was jump into the story, grab her shoulders shaking her senselessly while yelling in her face "Are you stupid!? You can't just up and leave! FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU WANT!" But sadly that can't happen. 

All and all this book was excellent and I can't wait to read the final installment. 

Cover Rating: B

Review: Taken at Dusk

“You will be what you are, and whatever it is, you will be fine. Everyone has to accept that and love you for who you are; it doesn’t really matter where your heritage comes from” 
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Book: 3 of 5
Pages: 380

Step into Shadow Falls, a camp for teens with supernatural powers.  Here friendship thrives, love takes you by surprise, and our hearts possess the greatest magic of all.

Kylie Galen wants the truth so badly she can taste it. The truth about who her real family is, the truth about which boy she’s meant to be with—and the truth about what her emerging powers mean.  But she’s about to discover that some secrets can change your life forever…and not always for the better. Just when she and Lucas are finally getting close, she learns that his pack has forbidden them from being together.  Was it a mistake to pick him over Derek? And it’s not just romance troubling Kylie. An amnesia-stricken ghost is haunting her, delivering the frightful warning, someone lives and someone dies. As Kylie races to unravel the mystery and protect those she loves, she finally unlocks the truth about her supernatural identity, which is far different—and more astonishing—than she ever imagined.

"This series always seems to somehow entrap me in its pages. I read Taken At Dusk in a matter of hours and I loved every moment of it." -Jena

My Thoughts:
As always CC Hunter never fails to amaze me with her story-telling. She did a great job creating a story that doesn't only revolves with our protagonist, but also extended to her supporting characters. I got so pulled into this story that I felt completely sad when it ended. This book makes you laugh, it makes your stomach drop, overall it has a way of trapping you in the story from beginning to end. In C.C. Hunter definitely did not disappoint with this one! 

Cover Rating: A

Apologies To All

Things have been so hectic that I haven't had time to get on and post reviews of the books I've read, but like the saying goes "I'm making a comeback" and I have tons of reviews for you all on some amazing series. So for the few followers I have (and hoping to get more) I hope you haven't forgotten about me because I haven't forgotten about you (:

Sincerely, Megan

In My Mailbox (#1)

I'm stoked! I went shopping this weekend with my mother, got a few paperback copies, one hardcover and a iBook. So, check them out :)

Bought

Mistwood by Leah Cypess

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court... until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart... and everything she thought she knew.

Nightspell by Leah Cypess

A stand-alone companion novel to the much-acclaimed MISTWOOD. When Darri rides into Ghostland, a country where the living walk with the dead, she has only one goal: to rescue her younger sister Callie, who was sent to Ghostland as a hostage four years ago.
But Callie has changed in those four years, and now has secrets of her own. In her quest to save her sister from herself, Darri will be forced to outmaneuver a handsome ghost prince, an ancient sorcerer, and a manipulative tribal warrior (who happens to be her brother).
When Darri discovers the source of the spell that has kept the dead in Ghostland chained to this earth, she faces a decision that will force her to reexamine beliefs she has never before questioned - and lead her into the heart of a conspiracy that threatens the very balance of power between the living and the dead.

Got In Mail

Sweep: Volume 1 by Cate Tiernan

The first three Sweep books bound into one gorgeous edition at a fabulous price! Morgan Rowlands never thought she was anything other than a typical sixteen-year-old girl. But when she meets Cal, a captivatingly handsome coven leader, she makes a discover that turns her whole world upside down: she is a witch, descended from an ancient and powerful line. And so is Cal.

Their connection is immediate and unbreakable; Cal teases out Morgan's power, her love, her magick. But Morgan discovers too soon that her powers are strong - almost too powerful to control. And she begins to suspect that Cal may be keeping secrets from her . . . secrets that could destroy them both

 Sweep: Volume 2 by Cate Tiernan

Morgan Rowlands is a blood witch, the last of a long line of ancient and powerful witches and the holder of an unfathomable power. With the help of her love, her soul mate, Cal, she has realized her true self - but at at price. For Morgan and Cal share a terrible, dark secret, one that binds them together even as they are rent apart.

Yet there is something about Cal's hunger for magick that firghtens Morgan.... And now there is another one who can bring Morgan clarity, truth... love. Morgan must decide who is her true love, and who is out to destroy her forever....

Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Some secrets shouldn't be kept...

Up until three months ago, everything in sixteen-year-old Camelia's life had been fairly ordinary: decent grades; an okay relationship with her parents; and a pretty cool part-time job at the art studio downtown. But when Ben, the mysterious new guy, starts junior year at her high school, Camelia's life becomes anything but ordinary.

Rumored to be somehow responsible for his ex-girlfriend's accidental death, Ben is immediately ostracized by everyone on campus. Except for Camelia. She's reluctant to believe the rumors, even when her friends try to convince her otherwise. She's inexplicably drawn to Ben...and to his touch. But soon, Camelia is receiving eerie phone calls and strange packages with threatening notes. Ben insists she is in danger, and that he can help--but can he be trusted? She knows he's hiding something... but he's not the only one with a secret.

        iBook

The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

 

Jessamine Luxton has lived all her sixteen years in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle, with little company apart from the plants in her garden. Her father, Thomas, a feared and respected apothecary, has taught her much about the incredible powers of plants: that even the most innocent-looking weed can cure -- or kill.

When Jessamine begins to fall in love with a mysterious boy who claims to communicate with plants, she is drawn into the dangerous world of the poison garden in a way she never could have imagined . . . 




I'm excited to start reading all these books and once I'm done I'll be doing reviews on all of them, which I know you're all looking forward to (: 

Review: Clockwork Prince

 “We live and breathe words. .... It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them. Reading your words, what you wrote, how you were lonely sometimes and afraid, but always brave; the way you saw the world, its colors and textures and sounds, I felt--I felt the way you thought, hoped, felt, dreamt. I felt I was dreaming and thinking and feeling with you. I dreamed what you dreamed, wanted what you wanted--and then I realized that truly I just wanted you.” 

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Publisher: McElderry Books
Book: 2 of 3
Pages: 498

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa's powers for his own dark ends.

With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister's war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move and that one of their own has betrayed them.

Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will; the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do? As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

"Beautiful, breathtaking, and heart-clenching. The Infernal Devices has become one of my favorite series and has, I dare say, surpassed The Mortal Instruments series. For all those YA lovers out there, Cassandra Clare has given us an aphrodisiac for the soul. This book is absolutely worth of your time. Go pick it up!" -Tatiana Vila




My Thoughs:
Cassandra Clare, you have gone and done it again. My heart is officially torn into pieces and I'm unsure that it will ever be fixed, but in a good way. Of all the things to say I cannot tell you how much you've brought the characters to life. Their stories, adventures and past pull us into the heart of Clockwork Prince as though we've been a part of it all along. But I know for a fact that was you're plan this whole time..

Just like J.K. Rowling with her extraordinary writing to pulling us into the world of Hogwarts, you have pulled us into the world of Shadowhunters. With each chapter that we read, it was taking us a step deeper into the adventure, chaos and love triangle. There was so many things that we got the chance to fully grasp. Like, the meaning and what it took of being a Shadowhunter, what really lies behind hidden doors that people try to shield, having the raw honest truth ripped out of you or thrown in you're face, the darkest horrors of people's past that they can never run away from, ect. For all this series has to tell I can go on forever, but I would probably spill to many secrets and I wouldn't want to ruin that for anyone now would I? Which I'm not going to, so you don't have to worry.

In the end, this series is truly the most magnificent master piece I have gotten to read from The Infernal Devices and I can't wait for more to come.

On another note:
I would like to point out that this series, along with The Mortal Instruments, is mistaken as being another "Twilight". These series do have similar plots with the love triangles having one guy be the "mysterious bad boy" and the other guy being "the perfect good boy", but if you've notice things are quite different then what they seem to be. I can a sure you that these series ARE NOT like anything you've read from "Twilight" and that they give you much more then you're hopeless love triangle. Because that's all that goes on in The Twilight Sage, non-stop fighting over who's going to get the girl or who she will pick. So please, just give these series a chance and see the adventures that are waiting for you inside. I promise you it will be worth you're time. And if that doesn't get you going, then you can message me anytime for more info as to why you should read it and I'll tell you(:

Cover rating: A++