WAKE by Lisa McMann--A Review

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.

She can't tell anybody about what she does--they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.

Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She's a participant...

*4.5/5 Stars*

I picked this book up at Goodwill not really knowing too many other people's thoughts about it. I had also never read anything by Lisa McMann before, so it was a gamble. I had just finished The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson and I wanted something short and quick. This book was calling to me so I read it. XD

This book turned out to be much different than I had expected. I didn't expect the book to be told in third person, but that was actually kind of nice. I also didn't expect the story to play out as it did. I thought this book was going to be kind of scary, especially because the back of the book talked about her participating in nightmares. But that's not really how it went. I mean yeah, there were nightmares that she saw...and they did play a part in the story...but they didn't play the part that I had anticipated. I thought Janie was going to get trapped in a nightmare and not know how to get out and the next couple of books were going to deal with her going through the nightmare and getting out, or not knowing whether she was in a dream or if it was real life (like Inception) and she was going to have to figure out which was which...but that's not AT ALL what happens. Not even close.

I won't spoil what happens, so no worries. Also, now that I think about it, the story wasn't really all that deep. We don't really get too much back story about Janie's life, and it's pretty jumpy. But I still enjoyed it (though I'm probably going to drop my rating to a 4). I have the other two books on my Amazon Wish List so that I don't forget about them.

I guess my real attachment to this story is that I guess I can understand how Janie feels. Having to hide a major part of you because you are afraid that you'll be seen as crazy, or a freak, because that's pretty much my life (not Janie's exact problem, but yeah). 

*Revised to 4/5 stars*

Well those are all my thoughts on this book. I do plan on finishing the trilogy once I collect the other two books, just because I'm curious as to how things go. That's all for now! Tootles!

May Wrap Up 2014

May was a pretty slow month for me. One of the books I was reading was kind of slow (which I will talk about later) and we had to put another sick cat to sleep. That was rough....but enough about that. Let's get on to the very short wrap up! I read two books! XD

The first book I finished was A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. This book was lent to me by a friend of mine who is in love with this series. He's been trying to get me to read it for FOREVER, so I finally read it, and if you haven't read my review on it, I loved it. ^^ I literally (like just a few minutes ago) ordered this book for my own collection. I don't know if I hauled it, but I have the second one as well. XD Yay!!

Then as soon as I finished Chameleon, I wanted some Sanderson. I had heard a lot about The Well of Ascension from Regan at Peruse Project and Connor from Connor O'Brien, so I decided that was all the push I needed to read the second book. They both raved that it was better than the first one, but I have to disagree with both of them. I'm not going to do a full review of it, because it is the second book in a series, so I'll just share my thoughts here (especially because this is a small wrap up anyways). I thought there was way too much politics and not enough action. The last 100 pages though....holy hell, those were intense. I hated that I had to wait that long for action to happen...This is also book 8/10 in my fantasy book challenge! Yay!!

Well that's all that happened this month. It's not much, but I do still feel like I accomplished quite a bit (especially because I finished the Sanderson book 1/2 an hour before midnight XD)! Next up is my TBR!~ I'll see you then!!

Regan's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PeruseProject
Connor's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/NodinBookinIt

May Book Haul

So, I did get some books in May...All of them were from Goodwill, so that's good. I am actually really excited about the books I found (well obviously...I bought them. XD).

The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman: I had first heard about this series from Cat's channel, Little Book Owl a couple of months ago. She raved about the series soooo much and I thought it sounded interesting. THEN I found it at Goodwill the day after I saw one of her videos about it, and I was like, YES PLEASE! So now it's mine. Though, I do think the cover is a bit creepy.......just saying.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: I FOUND THIS!!! I have been wanting to read this series for a while, but I could never find the first book at a discounted price..or at all...I found it at work...for 87 cents...Can you say f'yeah!!?? I sure did! I squeed when I found this. I don't know when I'm going to get to it, but I am excited to!!

Wake by Lisa Mcmann: I actually just finished this book yesterday and I enjoyed it very much. I had heard of the author and the book, but I haven't really heard anyone talk about it too much. I decided why not and brought it home. I wanted a quick and uncomplicated read, and devoured this book in a day. But more about that in my wrap up for June. XD

Wildwood Dancing by Juilet Marillier: I have been lusting over this cover for a while. It was one of the first books I added to my 'to read' list on Goodreads. I found it at my Goodwill and well, you know what happened. XD This. Cover. Is sooooooooooo much prettier. In person. It's soooooooooooooo beautiful!! It has so many different things on the cover to look at. Creatures, intricate designs on clothing and the animals....beautiful. Almost like a Baroque/Rococo painting...It's gorgeous.

Tithe by Holly Black: I have been wanting to try a Holly Black book for some time. I had heard of this series, but I haven't heard a lot about it. So when I saw that the spine said Black and had a name I kind of recognized, I was pretty excited. THEN I saw this:

 Well, those are all the books I got in May (at least I think that's all of them...oh well XD). I have two book reviews, my May wrap up and my June TBR yet to post. Hopefully I'll get those done today. Hope to see you then!! 



 Cat's Booktube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBookOwl

The Rithmatist -- A Review

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson:

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity's only defense against the wild chalklings---merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the wild chalklings now threaten all the American Isles.

As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then studens start disappearing---kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody frind themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery, one that will change Rithmatics--and their world--forever. 

*5/5 Stars*

I wasn't going to give this book 5 stars originally..But dat ending!! I am not the kind of person who tries to figure out the ending, so I'm surprised. But I was totally shocked by the one that was actually written.

At first, I thought the story was kind of slow. There was a lot of explaining this new form of magic called Chalklings and there was a lot of Geometry going on. How to draw circles, different points of circles and how a crooked line could mess everything up. I didn't know that this book took place in the early 1900's. If you didn't read the map at the beginning of the book, you wouldn't really know that. There was one part where Joel and Melody were talking about women's rights and worrying about carriages and such...I was so confused...At one point I was curious about how the world was set up, so I looked at the map and saw the date...That would have been good to know earlier...unless I missed it...which I might have. XP Also, I had a small problem with the main characters. The characters acted a lot younger than 16. Melody was whiny and Joel...there was something about him that I thought seemed odd. Like he was way too immature to be 16. I thought he was 12 multiple times...

Despite my confusion with the ages of the characters, I did enjoy them. They weren't my favorite main characters ever, but I felt like they did grow a bit, and I have a feeling they will continue to grow. I LOVED the world. I loved that it was based in the US, but the US was broken down into islands and everything had an alternate history. I mean, chopsticks being essential to Italian food? How cool is that? ...Well it's pretty cool to me...XP Also, I enjoyed the nods to steampunk culture. And once I got used to the magic, thought even with the pictures I had a hard time picturing what was happening, and I thought it was a bit awkward at times, I loved it. It is very different from anything else I have ever read and I really appreciate the creativity! Especially the fact that it is an artistic type of magic. That is neat. ^^ I thought the twists were cool too. Rithmatics is more complicated than even the main characters think it is. And the whole problem with Nebrask, so interesting!! >w< I can't wait to find out what happens in the next books!!

Well, that's enough for now!~ I really love Brandon Sanderson...He is officially one of my new favorite authors. I don't think I could not like anything he writes!~ He is just that good. ^^

Until next time my sweet little peaches! Tootles!~ 

A Spell for Chameleon--A Review

Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled--where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. It was a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks.

For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth was no fairy tale. He alone had no magic. And unless he got some--and got some fast!-- he would be exiled. Forever!

But the Good Magician Humfrey was convinced that Bink did indeed have magic. In fact, both Beauregard teh genie adn the magic wall chart insisted that Bink had magic. Magic as powerful as any possessed by the King or by Good Magician Humfrey--or even by the Evil Magician Trent. 

Be taht as it may, no one could fathom the nature of Bink's very special magic. Bink was in despair. This was even worse than having no magic at all...and he would still be exiled!

*4/5 Stars*

My ex boyfriend had been telling me about this series for a year and he finally lent me his copy! But he was on my case the whole time I had it, so I read it to shut his face up. XD I'm glad I did though!

At first, I had a bit of trouble getting into this book. The writing style was not really something I had expected, there was a lot of describing of things and I felt like things just kind of happened. There also wasn't much of a conflict. Bink is looking for his magic, saw a magician, some stuff happens, and everything just seemed to fall into place.

This book is heavy on magical theory, so if you don't like philosophy, you probably won't like this book. I, on the other hand, being fascinated by magic, really appreciate it. I also enjoyed the characters. They aren't necessarily deep, but they are interesting. My favorite character is probably Chameleon. She has very interesting magic and is a pretty complex character. The ending of this book was super sweet as well! I wasn't expecting that at all!! I literally went, "Awwwwwww!!!" That in itself was worth it. ^^ 

This is a 40 (possibly 40+) series of companion novels, so it is a bit of a commitment, but I think I will try and see if I can read them all!~ My friend says the second one is his favorite, so I'm looking forward to starting that one, possibly next month!! Until next time!! BYIE!!!

April Book Haul Pt 2

I ended up getting a few more books before the month of April was over, and I'm super excited about these purchases, so I thought I'd share them with you!! So, here they are!!!

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake: So this was the first book I put in my cart in my first ever Book Outlet order! I have been looking for this book for a very long time, and when I saw it for a couple of dollars (not in the scratch and dent section), I decided I would make an order..but I wanted to get more than one book, just to make it worth the $3.99 shipping. So I got....

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: I got this book!! I have been wanting this book for a very long time. A VERY long time. It was super cheap, in hard cover, and wasn't in the scratch and dent section...so I grabbed it!! I am so happy to have this book in my possession!! >w<

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas: If you have read any of my other posts, you would know that I was trying to get enough points on my Opinion Outpost account so that I could get this book for free. Well, I missed the pre-order date, but that's ok, because the book ended up being $2 cheaper that it originally was, so I had an extra $2 that I put towards the pre-order of Heir of Fire....September....GET HERE FASTER!!!!! \>___</


Well that's all I bought for this month. ^^ I don't really plan on buying much in May because I will be saving my money for Disney World!! >w< I probably won't buy any souvenirs, but maybe I'll find a nice bookstore. XD I'll be posting my May TBR next!~ Until then!! Byie!!!

Book Outlet: http://bookoutlet.com/

April Wrap-up 2014

This was also a pretty slow reading month for me, but it was MUCH better than the last couple of months!! *sigh of relief* So let me get into this short wrap up!~

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull: I gave this book 4.25 stars...yeah, that's a bit random...but whatevs. I found this book hard to get into, but once it started to get going, I did really enjoy myself. I had a lot of problems with it though. I'll link my review of it below if you are curious to see all of my thoughts. ^^v

 

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson: I gave this book 5 stars. I would give it more because Brandon Sanderson...but 5 shall suffice for now. ^^v I have not gotten a chance to review this book yet, but when I do, I'll link it down below so you can see my thoughts. I have a lot of them. XD 

Well, that is it. XD I told you it was going to be short! Haha! But I enjoyed both of these books a lot, so that is a vast improvement from my other reading months. I am currently 11/25 books into my reading challenge and I'm feeling good. ^^ Go me! Haha! So that's all, so until next time! Peace out! 

Beyonder's review: http://supermomobookcorner.blogspot.com/2014/04/beyonders-world-without-heores-review.html