Jul 7 2014
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Book Review: The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

The fiery heartTitle: The Fiery Heart

Author: Richelle Mead

Series: Bloodlines #4

Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets – and human lives. In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . . But the struggle isn’t over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there’s still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure — and re-education — looms larger than ever.

The fiery heart

The Review:

I absolutely loved Fiery Heart – it’s the best Bloodlines book yet! I actually read it way back in February but have been stalling on writing the review because A. I always need extra time to think about what I’m going to say for positive reviews (to do them justice and all) and B. I had already written two Mead reviews (in which I totally fawned over her writing) and figured I’d give my readers a break from the repetition. Fair warning: this review is going to be reiterating all of the points I bring up in every Mead review – she’s just too amazing and consistent to do otherwise.

Because I’ve sung her praises in at least five reviews to date, I decided to turn this one into a “Why Richelle Mead is My Favorite Author” summary post. The reasons are as follows:

  • Characters: All of her characters are incredibly relatable – they all have totally different personalities that are as realistic as they are different. Not a single one of them is perfect, and that’s part of why they always feel like real people. Mead has written so many books you’d think after a while some of her characters might start to sound the same, but they don’t. Each series gets a totally new cast of people, and they are always superb! Sydney, more than any other character in any other series by any other author, is the person I relate to the most – I adore her.
  • Momentum: It has happened in three series so far – that point where the conflicts come together to form a snowball which sweeps you off your feet and sends you careening all the way to the end. Her books will beat you up, but in the best way possible! We are at the point in Bloodlines were that brilliant momentum has been set into motion. Hang on for dear life!
  • Conflicts: The characters and momentum would mean nothing if the story wasn’t beautifully crafted around them. I have yet to read a book by Mead where I wasn’t completely emotionally invested in the conflicts of the story. She puts her characters through hell… and I love it.
  • Prolificness: What’s better then a brilliant author who comes out with several books in different genres throughout the year? Not only do we get a new Bloodlines novel every six months, but we also get the fantastic Age of X series once a year. That’s three whole novels from my favorite author that I get to devour this year – you can’t ask for more… Mead is a superhuman.

I could go on, but those are the main reasons I love her, and they apply to every book she’s written (yes, I have read them all) and that consistency is one of the main reasons why she’s my favorite author. Out of all of those amazing books, Fiery Heart was one of the strongest. All I have to say is, thank goodness Silver Shadows comes out soon because I don’t think I could bear waiting another six months. As much as I loved Vampire Academy, I think I’m starting to like the Bloodlines series even more…

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jul 6 2014
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Stacking the Shelves – June 2014 Edition!

Stacking the shelves

Hosted by Tinga’s Reviews

In the last month’s STS I mentioned splurging on a ton of bargain hardcovers that wound up lost in transit. They turned up a week later (evidently one of my neighbors had been hanging on to them) and I was stoked! So much so that I shamelessly went and ordered even more. I added twenty-one books to my collection, most of which were hardcovers, and paid less than three dollars for most of them… How cool is that?

Hardcopies:

ARCs:

 The only ARC acquired this month was actually a loan from Nikki over at There Were Books Involved. She saw my twitter post about how much I absolutely loved The Naturals and graciously offered to let me borrow the sequel (how awesome is that? Best blogging friend EVER!). Anyway, I’ve since read it and send it back and it is every bit as awesome-sauce as the first book – review to come.

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In other news, I finally caved and bought another bookshelf for my YA/Middle Grade library. I’ve been needing it forever, but the company I bought my shelves from discontinued the cherry color about two years ago (hence my stalling). I finally decided I’d rather have a mismatched shelf than none at all. It looks a bit odd, but now all of my books have space on the shelf so I’m happy. :-)

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 In conclusion, it was great month over at The Obsessives Bookseller.

What books did you get this month? :-)

by Niki Hawkes

Jul 4 2014
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June 2014: Review Recap!

Review Recap

As far as reviews on the blog are concerned this month, I totally kicked butt! Okay, so nine reviews (ten if you counts my first dual review as two books) is nowhere near as many as some of my fellow bloggers post, but for me it’s a couple more over my average so I’m happy. I’m on this new kick of reviewing a book as soon as I finish it (most of them, anyway) as well as playing a little catchup to the reviews I’ve had outstanding for months. It’s nice to know my concerted efforts are paying off. Anyway, as for the titles reviewed, there were some pretty good ones this month – further evidence that my “read the best books first” goal is paying off. I feel like I’m finally growing out of the habit of picking up books because I feel like I have to and I’m now almost exclusively reading the books that make me happiest in the moment (It’s way harder to do than it sounds). Here is a look at the titles:

Mirror X by Keri Thompson
Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham

 Push by Eve Silver – 2/5 stars

Mirror X by Karri Thompson – 2/5 stars

The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham – 2.5/5 stars

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Scarlet/Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen – 3/5 stars

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas – 4/5 stars

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo– 4/5 stars

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong – 4.5/5 stars

 Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau – 5/5 stars!

Crown of Embers by Rae Carson – 5/5 stars!

 So many great books! It’s hard to pick a favorite because my top three ratings are books from totally different genres. Crown of Embers is part of my new all-time favorite teen fantasy series, but Independent Study was such a fun read… Then you have Bitten, which then inspired me to go and watch the show and now I’m in love. Screw it! I love them all. It’s my blog and therefore I can have three favorite reads for June if I want to. ;-)

Waiting on Wednesday Features:

Although I am especially excited to read Talon, I think the book I most anticipating is In a Handful of Dust (I absolutely loved the first book).

 Top Ten Tuesday Features:

 Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far in 2014

Top Ten Books at the Top of my Summer 2014 TBR

 Top Ten Twenty Classic Fantasy Series

Top Ten Five Favorite Book Cover Attributes

 Some of my very favorites TTT posts happened this month. I love talking about favorite books I’ve read and picking which books I’m going to read.

Escape Reality Book Club:

July’s Selection

The Fifth Wave by Ricky Yancey

The Fifth Wave by Ricky Yancey

That sums up my month! How was yours?

Jul 4 2014
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Book Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the never skyTitle: Under the Never Sky

Author: Veronica Rossi

Series: Under the Never Sky #1

Genre: Teen Dystopian

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Overview: Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse. Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland–known as The Death Shop–are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild–a savage–and her only hope of staying alive. A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile–everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

Under the never sky 2

The Review:

I enjoyed Under the Never Sky a lot more than I thought I would, but not as much as I could have. You see, while reading it I got interrupted during ALL of the best parts. All of them. So when sparks finally start to fly between the characters, I got interrupted. When intense action scenes were underway, I got interrupted. When I was ten pages from finishing the book, I got interrupted. So, as you can see, the reading Gods works against me with this one… but even with all those things working against me, I still enjoyed it.

The concept for the book was great – it was a unique, futuristic take on the the age-old survival story. The world building, societies, and technology, while not the most solidly imagined, created an excellent atmosphere for the story that sucked me in right from the start. While it’s definitely not the best dystopian I have ever read, it held its own in a flooded market and is definitely more near the top of the list than the bottom.

My favorite part of the book was the love story between Aria and Perry. In an age of insta-loves and predetermined soul mates, it was refreshing to read about a relationship that came together organically. It doesn’t hurt matters that I’m totally on board with Perry as the male lead – hubba hubba! I like Aria, but I would definitely like to see her grow and develop a bit more in the next books. I should mention that many of my favorite book bloggers LOVED this series specifically because of the slowly-developing love story, which is what initially talked me into reading it.

I will admit I wasn’t totally convinced about the plot at first. While the world is well-thought-out and realistic, the direction the story took early on lacked a little feasibility. I found myself adopting that “just go with it” mentality. Luckily, once the story found its stride, it got a lot better. The big conflicts of the story were great – perfectly exciting and heart-wrenching. The smaller conflicts were entertaining, but did have the tendency to get a bit over dramatic on occasion… not enough to suck my enjoyment out of the book, but enough to make me hopeful that those scenes were just there for contrast (as I said before, I’m hoping to see even more character growth next).

Overall, of all the dystopian’s I’ve read over the last several years, Under the Never Sky is definitely one of the better ones. I am excited to read on, as I’ve heard great things about the next two books. The story definitely has potential to go somewhere momentous, but that’s what I said about the Divergent trilogy so I will just have to wait and see. :)

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Jul 2 2014
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Coming Soon: Talon by Julie Kagawa

TalonTitle: Talon

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Talon #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Release Date: October 28, 2014

The Overview: Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they’re positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George. Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon’s newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember’s bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.

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Hosted by Breaking the Spine

A new series about dragons? SIGN ME UP! Consider for a moment that I have a Dragon Obsession, and that should pretty much sum up why I can’t wait to read this book. There’s also the side benefit that I’ve heard a lot of great things about Kagawa even though I haven’t read her yet. Also, I really enjoyed Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, and the premise for Talon sounds pretty similar. It’s pretty clear that I’m looking forward to this one, and have already seen a few positive reviews from those lucky ducks who came home with one from BEA.

What book are you waiting on?

by Niki Hawkes

Jun 30 2014
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Top Twenty Classic Fantasy Series!

top ten tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I’m going a bit above and beyond this week, covering not only the top ten classic fantasy books I’ve read, but also the top ten I’d like to read. I just want to emphasize that I consider anything a “classic” that was published before I became a bookseller eleven years ago. Actually, some of them were written before I was even born. They are all a part of what I call the “essential fantasy list.” I realized that even though I consider these to be classics, I’m sure fantasy lovers from an older generation would have a very different looking list. What can I say? I picked titles that heavily influenced my reading journey and will always be nostalgic and “classics” in my eyes.

Top Ten Classic Fantasy Series I’ve Read:

 Top Ten Classic Fantasy Series I Want to Read:

 I know, Lord of the Rings isn’t on my list. I will probably lose a lot of street-cred, but I read it and, although I appreciate the heck out of it for what it did for the genre, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. Same goes for Wheel of Time… On the flip side, I also didn’t include more recent works such as Way of Kings and Name of the Wind because they haven’t been around long enough to be considered “classics” even though they’ll be near the top of my list ten years from now (in my opinion, they are perfect examples of modern fantasy and are revolutionizing how the genre is done).

 Anyway, this list represents my favorites and the ones I am most looking forward to reading. Would any of these fantasy books make your list?

 by Niki Hawkes