What's Next? 5/31/12

What's next is a new meme hosed by Iceybooks where bloggers showcase three to five books that are on their To Be Read pile and let the readers give their input! 
I think this is a great idea so I thought I would give it a test run to see if I want to continue.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die… or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn’t easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

 Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.     When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

     With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.

 

 I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

 So, What's Next? Link me to your What's Next posts in the comments and let me know if you like this new meme!

Waiting on Wednesday 5/30/12 Endlessly

Endlessly by Kiersten White
July 24th 2012

Try as she might, Evie can’t seem to escape her not-so-normal past. And what was supposed to be a blissfully normal school break is ruined when a massive group of paranormals shows up at her house, claiming that Evie is the only one who can protect them from a mysterious, perilous fate.

The deadly war between the faerie courts looms ever closer. The clock is ticking on the entire paranormal world. And its future rests solely in Evie’s hands.

So much for normal.

With a perfect blend of humor and suspense, Endlessly is everything readers could dream of in a conclusion—and the unexpected twists will keep them guessing until the very last page.

Review: Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: May 1st 2012
Pages: 525
Source: Bought
Genre: Dystopian, Romance
Goodreads
First Book in Series

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.

Do not read my review if you have not read the first book in the series.

After almost a year of waiting for the second book after the awesome that is Divergent, I was very, very excited for the release of this sequel. Insurgent picks up the story right where it left off in Divergent as with the Dauntless jump off the train to Amity headquarters. Like the first book, this sequel is very action packed, romantic, and well written to create a better or equally as good story as the first.

This second story in the series focuses more on the characters and weather or not we can trust them, and well as fining out more of why everything is going on in this dystopian world. Tris, the main character in the story, goes through a lot on internal battles in this book as she tries to deal with what is going on, following what she thinks is the right thing to do, and figuring out exactly what is going on with herself internally. In this second book I didn't really like Tris as much as I would have liked to, but there was reason for everything she did. She acted very, very stupidly at the spur of the moment, and that was part of the story line, but I really didn't like it. In this story I like how we got to see more of Four's life and everything he went through before he met Tris, including some of his life before he became Dauntless. The story was really centered around trust and conflict between the Erudite and the other factions. Throughout the story trust is either gained or destroyed in unexpected places and people though of as family betray one another, really making you not sure who to believe. 

This was a really, really amazing sequel and I really can not wait for the third book in the series!

One Year of Blogging!

I really can't believe it has been a year since I began this blog. It has been a wonderful first year of blogging for me and I can't wait for the years to come.

How my blogging journey started was actually pretty complicated compared to some stories I have heard. At some point, probably in April of 2011 I ran across some sort of book giveaway, and I joined a site that I could read books and win books on (Randombuzzers.com and Puleit.com). I had always been a little more bookish than other people, not as much as I am now though. The idea of winning a book, or even an ARC, just because it was an available giveaway sounded pretty cool so I tried it out. Through that process I learned a little more about books (like what an ARC was) and occasionally I would end up on a book blog. Really the only blogs I remember stumbling upon were The Story Siren and a blog that no longer exists, and I would look at those sites and go "What are these people doing and how do they know how to put a web page like that together?"

Near the end of May I actually won my first book, an ARC of Passion by Lauren Kate. After my extreme freak out (I was a fan of the series) I sat down and thought about what people do after reading and ARC, and of course they review them. So I decided that I was going to create a blog just to give the reviewing thing a try.

At first Rescue Reads was not Rescue Reads. It has gone through two name changes and countless design changes over the year along with several not-so-successful first posts.

The next real big chapter in my blogging experience was around the end of 2011 when I first joined twitter. Before twitter I had really no blogger connections outside of comments and joining was my first real big leap in the world of blogging. On twitter I have gained so many blogger friends and it has helped out an awful lot.

Withing a month or so of joining twitter Katie at Katie's Book Blog became my Big Blogger Sibling and she helps me out a sometimes, which can really help because Blogging can become very tough and you need a little support and a mentor can really help.

After that things just seemed to come together really well. I've been able to do so much in the past year and I am so grateful for all of the friends I have met through twitter or otherwise. I would like to point out a few people who have been both great friends and great helpers in the past year:

Katie
Jasmine
Willa
Jessie
Meridith 
Monica
Aneeqah 

Thank you guys! I can't wait to continue blogging this year and for years to come!

Review: Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green

Publisher: Speak
Publication Date: September 22nd 2009
Source: Library
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery
Goodreads

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life--dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows.
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues--and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.
Printz medalist John Green returns with the brilliant wit and searing emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

This is my third John Green book, and this is the third book he has written that I have found to be above and beyond satisfactory. Paper towns is about a boy named Quentin who has loved the girl next door, Margo ever since they played together when they were younger. Though it has been years since they last had a proper conversation he still admires her from afar until one night she sneaks out of her window and takes him on an all night plot of revenge against several people.

Quentin I see as a boy with the author's character. If you have ever seen any of the VlogBrothers' videos on youtube you know that John is a very nerdy, funny, and sometimes awkward person and he is just the most amazingly unique writer. Similar to John Quentin is also very nerdy and often times funny and awkward but also very loyal and determined. Margo, the girl Quentin is in love with next door begins as a mystery for both the reader and Quentin. Margo is very adventurous and loves to take risks. She also stands up for herself, though she might not always do it in a proper manner.

The plot is mainly based around the journey of finding out who Margo really is and Quentin's realization that he really didn't know the girl he loved as well as he thought he did. John Green has a very creative and well thought out writing style as well as a very large vocabulary when he writes. The way he writes really makes young adult reading very interesting for those who like books about people who aren't perfect and might be nerdy, or smart, or just a real person. 

The ending was the only thing I didn't quite find satisfactory because it wasn't what I was hoping for and it seemed very incomplete though it was a very logical ending to the story. Overall this book was quite enjoyable and way both funny and serious in just the right times as well as having the ability to make readers think about various ideas that were discussed in the story.

Waiting on Wednesday 5/23/12 The Unquiet

The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee
July 17th 2012

Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications (again!) and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home and school. She refuses to be daunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom, or that her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?

Annaliese? Or herself?

Book Haul 5/20/12

This week I got a few books, some from the library and one from a giveaway that I am very excited about!

Won From Giveaway from Mint Tea and a Good Book:

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

I am a big Iron Fey fan and I can not wait to see her newest piece!

From The Library:

Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Wrecked by Anna Davis

What did you get this week? Leave a link below and I'll be sure to check them out!

Review: A Temptation of Angels

A Temptation of Angels by Michelle Zink

Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: March 20th 2012
Pages: 435
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Genre: Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Romance
Goodreads

Even angels make mistakes in this page-turning epic romance...

When her parents are murdered before her eyes, sixteen-year-old Helen Cartwright finds herself launched into an underground London where a mysterious organization called the Dictata controls the balance of good and evil. Helen learns that she is one of three remaining angelic descendants charged with protecting the world's past, present, and future. Unbeknownst to her, she has been trained her whole life to accept this responsibility. Now, as she finds herself torn between the angelic brothers protecting her and the devastatingly handsome childhood friend who wants to destroy her, she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and above all to be strong, because temptation will be hard to resist, even for an angel.

Michelle Zink masterfully weaves historical fantasy with paranormal romance to create a gripping tale of love and betrayal.

I first heard about this book a few weeks before it came out when a lot of people were talking about it on twitter and other blogger and reader hangouts online, and hearing so much about it made me really interested in the story. The story is about a girl named Helen who is from a historical world, and one night her parents wake her up in the middle of the night and hide her in the wall of her bedroom and tell her to leave through a secret passage in the wall, and then within a few minutes her house is on fire with her parents inside. When Helen leaves and finds the place that her mother had instructed her to go she finds out that she was born as one of the gaurdians of the world, and the gaurdians are quickly being hunted down and killed.

Helen, the main character, is very rebellious and very strong headed. She is a very strong character who, no matter the customs at the time, refuses to let men tell her what to do. During parts of the book I felt like she had different emotional reactions that a normal person would have had. She never really grieves of the loss of her parents and seems to just except that they are gone, and I really didn't like that. Griffin and Darius are the two brothers that Helen finds after her house has been burned down and she lives with them afterward. The brothers are both gaurdians of the earth, like Helen. Griffin and Darius both have very contrasting personalities, Darius is very mysterious, hard to read, and has a very demanding feel, while Griffin is more friendly towards Helen and a much calmer character. Something I tended to notice throughout the story is that character's physical descriptions where either very general or seemed to be lacking detail that could give a good idea of how to picture them.

The plot is laid out mostly around Griffin, Darius, and Helen trying to figure out who has been killing off all of the other world gaurdians. I noticed while reading that there is a lot of description for the entire story, and even though it made the story longer it never seemed like too much description. On the other hand I did think that there was not very much that happened in the story for it to be as long as it was. While I was reading, even toward the end I felt like I was never really emerged in the story and I always felt like there was something missing in the story that would have made it click for me.

This story tells a very interesting story in a very intriguing setting. The only issue I seemed to have was I never got truly hooked to the story, and it felt like there was just something missing.

Waiting on Wednesday 5/16/12 A Mid Summer's Nightmare

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger
June 5th 2012

Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorced dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancée and her kids. The fiancée's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great. Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Review: Incarnate

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: January 31st 2012
Pages: 384
Source: Bought
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Challenges: Debut Author Challenge
Goodreads

New soul
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.
No soul
Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?
Heart
Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies--human and creature alike--let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?
Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

This is a fantastic fantasy story that is very unique and kept me very interested. In Ana's world people get reincarnated after every life, remembering their past lives as the move on to others. But Ana doesn't remember any past lives, in fact she never did live any past lives. Now stuck in a world where she is thought as inferior and weak she leaves her abusive mother to find out where she came from, and then she runs into Sam. I love fantasy stories because authors can have so much freedom to come up with brilliant plots like this one.

Ana, the main character in the story is much like an average teenager in our world, who is thrown into a world of know-it-alls. She is both very curious and at first she is a very cautious person after living with a mother that lied to her and treated her badly. By then end of the story she goes grows into a very strong character that is able to stand up fer herself and fight. Sam, the boy that helps Ana is a very interesting boy who has lived though many lives but never treats Ana badly. Sam seems to see more in Ana than many of the other characters. He is a very musical character, and together they make a great pair.

The plot is very well written and very complete as it follows Ana and Sam's journey to finding out who Ana is and where she comes from. There is never really a dull spot as bits of information are unveiled throughout the story. The ending is very complete for the first book in a series and has no dire cliffhangers, though I am very interested in seeing what will happen next in the story.

This is a very well written Fantasy Romance that I enjoyed and recommend highly. This is a great read for Iron Fey fans.

Bout of Books Read-a-thon To-Be-Read 2012

I have decided to sign up for the Bout of Books Read-a-thon in hopes that I will do a little more reading this week. On average I read about two to three books a week so by the end of the read-a-thon I hope to read more than my two or three average. Books I hope to read this week are:

Grave Mercy

The Fine Art of Truth or Date

The Duff

Graceling

Supernaturally

I will be updating on Twitter and Goodreads

Please link me to your read-a-thon posts in the comments!

Book Haul 5/13/12

 Gifted by the Lovely Jasmine from A Room With Books:

A Signed Hardcover of The Body Finder, A Body Finder bookmark, a The last Echo sticker, a tattoo, a Signed Nevermore bookmark, and a Last Echo wrist band.

Won From Lindsay at Me On Books:

A Beautiful YA Saves T-Shirt and a signed International Paperback of Shatter Me!

That's all I got this week, what did you get?

Review: Born Wicked

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Publication Date: February 7th 2012 
Pages: 330
Source: Library
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Paranormal
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge
Goodreads

Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word... especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.

When I first grabbed this book off of the stacks at the library I knew very little about the story other than what the title and the cover give the impression of, until right before I began it I didn't realize that it was Historical fiction. I don't usually read historical fiction and the beginning of the story was very slow for me.Up until I reached about the middle of the book I wasn't very hooked to the story, but I am very glad that I continued.

The book is about three sisters who were all born witches in a Historical society in which the government figures hunt down and lock up young girls for witchery. Cate is the main character in the story. She is the oldest of the sisters and since her mother died she has had to watch over her younger sisters and make sure they are not discovered. Cate is of the age where she is expected to marry, join the sisterhood, or be arranged a marriage. Cate is a  very strong main character who has to deal with a lot, and seeing life through her eyes is very interesting with her very complicated life. Paul, Cate's childhood friend arrives back in town for the first time in years hoping to marry Cate. Paul is not in the story very much. Finn, the neighborhood bookseller's son and Cate's new gardener is a smart, quiet boy of a lower class than Cate but throughout the story she finds herself more and more attracted to him.

Before I read this book I had not read a Historical Fiction on my own in quite a long time and I had no idea what to expect. The plot is very complex and engaging with all of the issues that Cate runs into and all of the boundaries that the Brotherhood has put up for woman. I fell in love with the story about half way though when things began to heat up and a romance aspect was introduced. By the end of the story I ready for more and I can't wait until I can get my hands on the sequel.

Overall this is one of my favorite reads of the year and I highly recommend it, especially if you don't usually read much Historical Fiction.

Waiting on Wednesday 5/9/12 Survive

Survive by Ales Morel
August 2nd 2012

Hatchet meets Lost in this modern-day adventure tale of one girl's reawakening

Jane is on a plane on her way home to Montclair, New Jersey, from a mental hospital. She is about to kill herself. Just before she can swallow a lethal dose of pills, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black. Jane wakes up amidst piles of wreckage and charred bodies on a snowy mountaintop. There is only one other survivor: a boy named Paul, who inspires Jane to want to fight for her life for the first time.

Jane and Paul scale icy slopes and huddle together for warmth at night, forging an intense emotional bond. But the wilderness is a vast and lethal force, and only one of them will survive.

Top Ten Tuesday 5/8/12

 

Top Ten Tuesday is Hosted by the Ladies of Broke and  Bookish

This week's topic is 

Top Ten Favorite Quotes from Books (In no particular order)

All Quotes found on Goodreads

'"I might be in love with you." He smiles a little. "I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though."

-Veronica Roth, Divergent

“I know you aren't perfect. But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else.”
-Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door

  “There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.” 

-John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.” 

-Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

“Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”  

-Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“The universe has yet to take my wishes under consideration.” 

-Jessica Spotswood, Born Wicked

 “Thomas Edison's last words were 'It's very beautiful over there'. I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.” 

-John Green, Looking for Alaska

 “I wish friends held hands more often, like the children I see on the streets sometimes. I'm not sure why we have to grow up and get embarrassed about it.” 

-Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss

 “That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.”

 -John Green, Paper Towns

 “Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything's possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.”

 -Marie Lu, Legend