Book Review: Bewitching

Title: Bewitching (Kendare #2)
Author: Alex Flinn
Genre/s: Young Adult, Fairytale Retelling, Fantasy, Romance,

Synopsis:

Bewitching can be a beast. . . .

Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn't.

I go to a new school now--one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I'm not still here because I'm stupid; I just don't age.

You see, I'm immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years--except for when to take my powers and butt out.

I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the Titanic lifeboat? I don't even want to think about it.

Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn't get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl--and it isn't an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching.

Book Review: Cinder

Title: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre/s: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fairytale-Retelling, Dystopian

Synopsis:

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.

Book Review: Girl of Nightmares

Title: Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)
Author: Kendare Blake
Genre/s: Young Adult, Horror, Fantasy, Mystery,

Synopsis:

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

Book Review: Starflower

Title: Starflower (Tales of Goldstone Woods #4)
Author: Elisabeth Stengl
Genre/s: Young Adult, Fantasy, Christian Fiction

Synopsis:

When a cursed dragon-witch kidnaps the lovely Lady Gleamdren, Eanrin sets boldly forth on a rescue mission...and a race against his rival for Gleamdren's favor. Intent upon his quest, the last thing the immortal Faerie needs is to become mixed up with the troubles of an insignificant mortal.

But when he stumbles upon a maiden trapped in an enchanted sleep, he cannot leave her alone in the dangerous Wood Between. One waking kiss later, Eanrin suddenly finds his story entangled with that of young Starflower. A strange link exists between this mortal girl and the dragon-witch. Will Starflower prove the key to Lady Gleamdren's rescue? Or will the dark power from which she flees destroy both her and her rescuer?

Book Revew: Beastly: Lindy's Diary

Title: Beastly: Lindy's Diary (Kendra #1.5)
Author: Alex Flinn
Genre/s: Young Adult, Romance, Fairytale Retelling

Synopsis:

See the #1 New York Times bestselling story Beastly through Lindy's eyes! This is her diary, kept while living in captivity with the beast.Lindy's Diary captures all the romance and edgy mystery of the original!

Diary,

I am locked away . . . with no one to confide in but you . . . and him. His fur, those claws—they caught me off guard at first, but now I'm noticing something else about him—something deeper. It's the look in his eye. It tells me he's got a secret to keep. That's okay—I've got one, too. I think I'm falling in love with him. . . .

Lindy

Book Review: Beastly

Title: Beastly
Author: Alex Flinn
Genre/s: Young Adult, Romance, Fairy-tale Retelling
Synopsis:

I am a beast.

A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright--a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever--ruined--unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

Book-Inspired Poetry #2

Book-Inspired Poetry is a weekly meme I created to show my combined love for books and poetry. Every poem you read in this blog is created by me unless stated otherwise.

So for this weeks BIP, I recently read Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake and I really really love that series so I decided to create a blank verse poem based on it.

Hope you like it! :)

“She's my purpose and we're going to save each other. We're going to save everyone. And then I'm going to convince her that she's supposed to stay here. With me.”
- Anna Dressed in Blood

 

Goddess of Death

Erleen Alvarez

She walked with grace

as she descended from the stairs.

Her flowing white dress

along with her long dark hair,

swayed in the wind's cadence.

I've always dreamed of her like this

except for the blood in her hands

which soaked the hem of her dress

But other than that, it's perfect.

This goddess of death in front of me

is the girl of my dreams

(or should I say nightmares?) 

And I don't care if she's dead,

because she's my Anna

my strong, terrifying Anna.

Cover Reveal: Two of my most anticipated book of 2013

I don't usually do cover reveal but today, I will. Because what I will show you is two of my highly anticipated books and I just can't contain the excitement when I saw their covers. So without further ado, here they are:

Title: The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3)
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Genre/s: Young Adult, Suspense, Thriller, Mystery, Romance

Synopsis:

There is no blurb yet. 

Title: Breathless (Elemental #2.5)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Genre/s: Young Adult, Paranormal Fantasy, Romance

Synopsis:

Too many secrets. Not enough time.

Nick Merrick is supposed to be the level-headed one. The peacemaker. Since it’s just him and his three hotheaded brothers against the world, that’s a survival tactic.

But now he’s got problems even his brothers can’t help him survive.

His so-called girlfriend, Quinn, is going quick as mercury from daring to crazy. Meanwhile, Quinn’s dancer friend Adam is throwing Nick off balance, forcing him to recognize a truth he’d rather shove back into the dark.

He can feel it—-the atmosphere is sizzling. Danger is on the way. But whatever happens next, Nick is starting to find out that sometimes nothing you do can keep the peace.

They're both gorgeous! I can't wait to get my hands on this pretties!

Guess What's in my Mailbox #11

For this week's GWIMM, I only have one awesome book to share to all of you. I actually received this on Wednesday last week. But because I already showed you my GWIMM that week I decided to reserved this for this week.

I won this signed copy of Easy by Tammara Webber from Jean Book Nerds. I was super elated when I received this in the mail (I mean, who wouldn't), it's one of my most anticipated book of 2012. Anyway, I'm almost finish, reading it so any day from now I will post my review of it. :)

Ciao for now!

Book Review: Auracle

Title: Auracle
Author: Gina Rosati
Genre/s: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance

Synopsis:

16 year old Anna Rogan has a secret she's only shared with her best friend, Rei; she can astrally project out of her body, allowing her spirit to explore the world and the far reaches of the universe.

When there's a fatal accident and her classmate Taylor takes over Anna's body, what was an exhilarating distraction from her repressive home life threatens to become a permanent state. Faced with a future trapped in another dimension, Anna turns to Rei for help. Now the two of them must find a way to get Anna back into her body and stop Taylor from accusing an innocent friend of murder. Together Anna and Rei form a plan but it doesn't take into account the deeper feelings that are beginning to grow between them.

Book Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

Title: The Evolution of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkins

Genre/s: Young Adult, Suspense, Mystery, Horror, Romance

Synopsis:

Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.

She can’t.

She used to think her problems were all in her head.

They aren’t.

She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.

She’s wrong.

In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?

New Meme: Book-Inspired Poetry

Reading books and writing poems are two of my most favorite hobbies ever since I was a kid. But for this past 6 months that I've been book blogging, I realized that I haven't written any poem lately and I really really missed it. My poetry blog at Tumblr is accumulating a lot of  virtual dust from unplanned absence. So I decided, why not combine my two favorite hobby and create a new meme for both of my blogs.

This new segment will be called Book-Inspired Poetry or BIP. This meme could be a weekly or a daily meme depending on my schedule and the cooperation of my brain. In this segment, I will post poems inspired by a book character, or a setting or a quote.

Here's a sample of my poem inspired by a setting in the Hunger Games where Katniss sung a lullaby to Rue.

Book Review: Welcome Caller, This is Chloe

Title: Welcome Caller, This is Chloe
Author: Shelley Coriell
Genre/s: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction, Romance,

Synopsis:

Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

Book Review: Hopeless

Title: Hopeless
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre/s: Young Adult/New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…

That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried.

Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.

Recommended for readers 17+ due to sexual content, harsh language and heavy subject matter.

Guess What's in My Mailbox #10

Hi everyone!

Guess what's in my Mailbox, is a weekly meme inspired by Stacking the Shelves, IMM(In My Mailbox) and other meme about showcasing the books and swag that we received in the mail. 

For this 10th GWIMM, I am really excited to show you all what I've got. So without further ado, here they are:

WON

I won this hardcover copy of Girl of Nightmares from Heather @ The (Mis)Adventure of a Twenty-Year Old Girl. Check out her blog and see her awesomeness. 

This swag-tastic bunch right here is from Tiffany @ A Purrfect Read. Aren't they amazing! :)

And last but not the least, this gorgeous Tirade Necklace and postcards right here is from, none other that the author herself, Cambria Hebert which I won in her website on the release day of Tirade. 

So that wraps-up my 1st GWIMM in 2013!

What do get this week?

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Genre/s: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction, Romance

Synopsis:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Book Review: The Fine Arts of Truth or Dare

Title: The Fine Arts of Truth or Dare
Author: Melissa Jensen
Genre/s: Young Adult, Contemporary Fiction

Synopsis:

Pretty in Pink meets Anna and the French Kiss in this charming romantic comedy

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that's just fine by her. She's got her friends - the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She's got her art - and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it's hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they're dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?