Saturday 13 July 2013

Cover Reveal: Djinn by Laura Catherine


Title: Djinn
Author: Laura Catherine
Series: Djinn, #1
Publication date: December 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance












Blurb:


Kyra’s life is far from normal.
She's been on the run for as long she can remember and her father is the only stable thing in her life, but everything changes when the people pursuing them finally catch up.Kyra is abducted by the handsome and mysterious, Will. He takes her to a secret compound where she is told the truth: She's a Djinn, a genie-like creature with super powers and a love of dogs.
Kyra has to adjust to the Djinn and their rules, but her new life is far from perfect. Everyone is hiding something and the one person Kyra cares about most is forbidden to her.
There are secrets around every corner and more dangers than Kyra could ever imagine as she struggles to find herself and be with the one she loves.



About the Author


Laura Catherine is Young Adult author focusing on Paranormal Romance, Dystopia, and Fantasy.

She writes stories full of action, secrets, and magic. She loves creating worlds where anything is possible and everyone has a story to tell. She has an over-active imagination, spends a lot of her time daydreaming, and wishes pokemon were real so she would have one.

Laura Catherine lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Author links:

Die for Me (Revenants #1) - Amy Plum [Review]

Die for Me by Amy Plum




Title: Die for Me
Author: Amy Plum
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: Revenants #1
Release Date: May 10th 2011
Pages: 441
Rating: ★★★










Blurb:


In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity.
When Kate Mercier's parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life--and memories--behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent.
Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate's guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he's a revenant--an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others. Vincent and those like him are bound in a centuries-old war against a group of evil revenants who exist only to murder and betray. Kate soon realizes that if she follows her heart, she may never be safe again.

Friday 12 July 2013

Book Blogger Hop #3


The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. It's a chance for book bloggers to connect and share the book love.


This week's question:

How long have you been blogging?

I made my blog on May 19th 2013 and my first post (here) was on May 21st. This means I've been blogging for almost 2 months now. I know that is a very short time, but I feel like I've been doing it for ages. My first review of Requiem took me a very long time to write, I feel like my writing has already improved in those 2 months, my writing speed anyway.
I hope I can continue blogging for a very long time, I really love sharing my opinion of books with others and finding new books on other blogs.

Thursday 11 July 2013

Blog Tour: Twinge by Homar Solano [Interview + Giveaway]







Title: Twinge

Author: Homar Solano
Published: May 9th 2013

This is the story of Julie Moore whose dreams and aspirations is to get just the ‘right guy’ in her life, but her dreams and aspirations are about to change forever…
In broad daylight, life in Dead Valley is just too darn perfect, seldom if something bad ever happens. But once it turns dark outside, the environment turns hostile. A lot of people go missing each night without a trace. No one in the valley knows exactly why, and they are afraid to uncover the truth. That is until a bright sunny afternoon, Julie Moore is pronounced dead. Stunningly, the next morning without any knowledge that she is supposed to be dead, she finds herself walking in the village. Living in a nightmare that she hopes to awaken one day, she has now to uncover the hard reality of her true identity and the secrets that the village hides within itself, before it’s too late and the evil begins exterminating her and the people from the valley…
But will Julie Moore dreams and aspirations to get the ‘right guy’ as she tries to find her way out from the secrets she uncovers prevail?

Add to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon


Wednesday 10 July 2013

Waiting on Wednesday #7

 
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



The Elites by Natasha Ngan


Expected publication: September 5th 2013


Blurb:

'There is a rumour that the Elites don't bleed.'

Hundreds of years into the future, wars, riots, resource crises and rising sea-levels have destroyed the old civilisations. Only one city has survived: Neo-Babel, a city full of cultures - and racial tension. Fifteen-year-old Silver is an Elite, a citizen of Neo-Babel chosen to guard the city due to her superior DNA. She'd never dream of leaving - but then she fails to prevent the assassination of Neo Babel's president, setting off a chain of events more shocking and devastating than she could ever have imagined. Forced to flee the city with her best friend Butterfly (a boy with genetically-enhanced wings), Silver will have to fight to find her family, uncover the truth about Neo-Babel and come to terms with her complicated feelings for Butterfly.

Packed full of adventure, romance, exoticism and the power of friendship, THE ELITES is a highly compelling and beautifully written novel from a supremely talented debut author.

As you probably all know by now I love dystopians. The book seems to have a great dystopian/post-apocalyptic story, with a strong heroine. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

What book are you waiting on?

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Unraveling - Elizabeth Norris [Review]

This review may contain spoilers. 


Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris



Title: Unraveling
Author: Elizabeth Norris
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Series: Unraveling #1
Release Date: April 24th 2012
Pages: 464
Rating: ★★★1/2











Blurb:


Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.
And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

Top Ten Tuesday #6


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers over at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join.
This week: Top Ten Best/Worst Movie Adaptations

Best:

1. Harry Potter 


Although the books will always be better in my eyes, I loved the movie adaptions. My favourites are movie 1 and 4, I love the first introduction to magic in 1 and all the action in 4. I was disappointed in movie 5 and 7.1, they were quite boring and did not live up to the books. I would have liked it more if 7 would have been one movie.







2. Lord of the Rings


I liked the books, but I loved the movies! The books were a bit too tedious for my taste, but the movies were a lot faster (even though they were still three hours) and still true to the books. 











3. Pride and Prejudice


I think this adaption of P&P with Keira Knightly is the best one out there. The actor whose name I forgot was exactly how I pictured Darcy in the book, dark and brooding :) If you like classic novel adaptions, I could also recommend Jane Eyre (with Michael Fassbender), North and South (with Richard Armitage) and Sense and Sensibility (with Kate Winslet), all great!






4. The Perks of being a Wallflower


I was pleasantly surprised by this adaption. It really captured the essence of the book and the actors were perfectly cast.














5. Romeo and Juliet

I really loved this movie! I have read Romeo and Juliet, but I have to admit it's quite difficult to read. The movie solved this problem. I absolutely love the starcrossed lovers story and I think Leonardo diCaprio and Claire Danes were perfectly cast.
I'm curious to see if the new version with Douglas Booth is as good as this version (think not).







I would have added the Avengers, but I did not know whether comic books classified as 'books'.


Worst:

1. The Host


This movie revolved way more around the romance than in the book. This was at the expense of the actual story and the sci-fi elements, which I found more interesting. Around three quarters of the movie consisted of kissing and the love-square, quite a disappointment.









2. I am Number Four


Alex Pettyfer just can't act. Every movie with him is just a disappointment. Sorry if you're a fan, but I just don't like him as an actor.













3. Percy Jackson


I really liked the books, but I was disappointed by the movie. I felt like they changed the whole story.















4. The Hunger Games


I'm not sure what I did not like about this movie, but it just did not blow me away like the book. Maybe it's just that my expectations were too high. I also felt like they changed too much, like Madge being cut out and the emphasis on the love triangle.










5. Twilight


I actually liked the books, except New Moon, that one was just depressing. But the movies.. no. Not sure if it's just the fact that I find Kristin Stewart fairly irritating or that the movies are really bad, but I just did not like them. I have to say the books are better than most people think, they just got a bad reputation after the movies.








Leave me a link to your top ten!

Sunday 7 July 2013

The Testing - Joelle Charbonneau [Review]

This review may contain spoilers. 


The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau




Title: The Testing
Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books
Series: The Testing #1
Release Date: June 4th 2013
Pages: 336
Rating: ★★













Blurb:


Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same? 
The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career. 
Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one. 
But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

Review:


During the book I made some notes about similarities between the Hunger Games and The Testing.

The Hunger Games vs The Testing:

Districts - Colonies
Hunger Games - Testing
Peeta - Tomas 
Cato - Roman
Haymitch - Michal
Katniss - Cia
President Snow - Dr. Barnes
Arena - Stage 4

They both have mutated creepy animals roaming in the arena, there are both people chosen from districts/colonies for the testing/games. Both books have a boy who has had a crush on a girl for ages and finally decides to move in in the games/testing, after he is wounded and the girl is at first trying to deny the crush. Both protagonists are extremely good at survival.

There are too many similarities to say it's just a coincidence. It really seems like the author picked the concept of the Hunger Games and tried to make it her own, without actually plagiarizing anything. Sometimes this idea-picking works out great and it makes a wonderful book, but this book is definitely not better than The Hunger Games and I found myself constantly comparing the two books. The ideas in this book are just a lot more illogical and less well-developed. I know most ideas in books aren't creative and unique anymore, but an author at least has to try to come up with something of his own.

I'm not saying this directly made it a bad book, but it won't get a lot of stars in the end because of it.

The book also lacked action. Most of the book was build-up to the Testing and the first three parts of the Testing, which consisted of written tests. Even in the fourth stage, which was the arena survival/fight to the death part, wasn't really exciting at any point. Everything was resolved fairly easy by both Cia and Tomas and there wasn't an epic climax of any sort. It wasn't exactly boring, but I'd have loved to see some more action.

I could not really relate to any of the characters. Cia was just too smart and too good at everything to be realistic and her character was a bit boring. Tomas seemed like a very nice guy, a bit too much actually, that's why I found him suspicious from the beginning. That made him an unlikeable character and love interest. I did like his twist, and I am curious to see how that works out. The other characters in the book had no development and were just flat. They didn't really add much to the story. The only character I did find interesting was Will. He had much depth in his character and I thought he'd make a better love interest until the end of the book. But his twist made him even more interesting.

There was no real build-up to Cia and Tomas' relationship, it was unrealistic. They instantly became close after being chosen for the Testing, while they never even talked before. Tomas apparently had a crush on Cia (without apparent reason), never acted on it , until they were alone in the arena. Cia was constantly denying he had a crush on her and did not seem to return the crush. Then they kissed and they suddenly were in love.. The whole relationship just seemed forced and I did not sense any chemistry between them.

Some things did not really make sense in the book. Why would they kill most of the smart people in a still rebuilding country? Why would a future leader/ University attendee need to be able to survive a deadly arena? How did Cia know all that stuff about survival, she was just a high school student? Cia took an antidote to the memory-wipe medicine, why did she still forget?

I did like that the book had a few unexpected twists. From Cia's father's warning the reader knew he could not trust anyone, but a few characters really surprised me in the end and the ending itself was unpredictable to me.

The world-building was not really detailed. We know America was destroyed by war and colonies came in its place. But we don't get details about the other colonies, how the rebuilding went and the whole war was pretty confusing, since we only got answers via stupid test questions. The post-apocalyptic theme of the book was just not believable, since it was never really explained.

Okay, my review seems very negative, but it wasn't really that bad of a book. It's just hard to stay positive when you start comparing it to the Hunger Games and it's just less good on all points. If I hadn't read The Hunger Games this review would probably have been pretty positive.
So if you already read THG, I wouldn't recommend this book to you and if you haven't, give it a try and read THG after that if you liked it.

Stars: 3 out of 5

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