Waiting on Wednesday #14- The Gathering

I was so happy when I found this book on goodreads! After reading and absolutely loving The Reckoning, I was eager to see what future projects Kelley Armstrong had in store for us. Especially with the dozens of questions I still have after finishing The Darkest Powers Series. Even though this book isn't part of The Darkest Powers series, it is set in the same world so hopefully The Gathering will be able to answer some of my questions!

Maya lives in a small medical-research town on Vancouver Island. How small? You can’t find it on the map. It has less than two-hundred people, and her school has only sixty-eight students—for every grade from kindergarten to twelve. Now, strange things are happening in this claustrophobic town, and Maya's determined to get to the bottom of them. First, the captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. A year later, mountain lions start appearing around Maya's home, and they won’t go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts getting negative vibes from certain people and things. It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret—and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy: Her paw-print birthmark.

So, the cover is really...blue. I feel like once I get the cover in my hands it's going to be this glowing luminescent blue, hopefully! But the thing I found funny about this cover is how the model is turned to the side showing her earring. So since the theme around The Darkest Powers series was that color-changing necklace on the covers, I'm thinking that the theme for this series is going to be earrings. Right, right???

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Posted in: Paranormal

Waiting on Wednesday #12- Warped

WoW, I haven't done one of these in a very long while but I missed it so I decided to bring it back. This week's I am featuring two books for Waiting on Wednesday. The first book is Warped by. Maurissa Guibord.

 Warped

January 11, 2011 

  

 Things get weird after Tessa Brody's father buys a dusty old unicorn tapestry at an auction. The wild, handsome creature woven within it draws Tessa, and frightens her too. One day she pulls a silver thread from the tapestry and releases the unicorn. Only he isn’t one at all. He’s William de Chaucy, a young sixteenth century English nobleman with gorgeous eyes, a weird accent and haughty attitude to spare. Will was trapped in the tapestry by Gray Lily, a sorceress who stole the thread of his life and relies on its energy for her eternal youth. Now Gray Lily wants her unicorn back and she’ll do anything to get him. If that isn’t bad enough “his lordship” de Chaucy seems to think Tessa is someone she’s not: the girl who trapped him so long ago in the forest. Despite the sparky chemistry between them he seems to have the strange idea that she’ll be his undoing once more. Maybe she will. Because there’s a connection, an attraction to Will that Tessa can’t deny. She’s even beginning to dream about events in a forest of long ago. Or is she reliving them? But Tessa knows one thing for sure. She could never be some heartless twit of a virgin who would trap a unicorn.

This book sounds like it is going to be amazing. For some reason the plot sounds familiar. Like something I read in a manga or something, but either way it sounds like it is going to be incredible.

The second book is The Iron Witch. Is it just me or whenever you hear a title with the word Iron in it do you immediately think of Faeries too?

The Iron Witch
February 1, 2011 

Freak. That’s what they called seventeen year-old Donna Underwood in high school after a horrific fey attack that killed her father when she was just a child. Her injuries and rehabilitation resulted in magically enhanced strength, thanks to the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. As a child of the alchemists, she is both blessed and cursed with a magical heritage that doesn't leave much room for boys, parties and homework. Now, after ten years of wishing for a normal life, she finally has to accept her role in the centuries-old war against the darkest outcasts of Faerie: the Dark Elves. Aided by a gorgeous half-fey dropout, Donna must race to save her best friend’s life - even if it means betraying one of the world’s greatest secrets and confronting the very thing that destroyed her family.

I really just think the artwork in this cover is simply beautiful. It is so intricate and detailed, I love it!!! Though it is a long long wait until the release date,  I'm just going to have to withstand! What do you think of this book? What are you waiting for this Wednesday?

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Posted in: faeries,Paranormal,paranormal romance,Waiting On Wednesday

Review: Poison Study by. Maria V. Snyder

Title: Posion Study

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Publication Date: March 2007

Pages: 416

Series: Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study
  Rating: 9.5/10

Synopsis from BN.com

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooma in the palace--and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust--and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...
 

Review:
             Finally!!! Thats what I kept on thinking while reading this book. Finally a book that was so incredibly mind boggolingly good (yes, I felt the need to make up a word to describe this book). To say this book was a page turner would be a huge understatement. I would describe it as a gripping start to a trilogy.
           The plot of this book was very original. I have never seen the idea of a poison taster ever explored before, and Maria V. Snyder did it in a remarkable way. The plot in Poision Study is filled with twists and turns. There are so many routes the plot takes throughout the book, just adding to the suspence and intrigue. As the magical element is added to the story Yelena's commitment to the commander, and her new mentor 
Valek is tested while she starts discovering revealing things about who she is and where she comes from. 
With every new question being answered throughout the book, a new one is asked, keeping readers on their toes to the very last sentence.
          Reading about a main character such as Yelena was one of the greatests parts of the book. She is a person whom, despite what she has been through and her place now as a poison taster, is confident in her own. She is a very intelligent character and it is reasuring reading about a female character that doesnt get over shadowed by the male characters around her. She is such a strong character I couldnt help but shout "you go girl" in various places throughout the book. Valek is also a great leading male character, its fun to see how him and Yelena change together throughout the story. 
        The ending was perfection, is was a great way to pull the whole book together while still leaving enough unanswered questions and inquiries to make the reader sprint to their nearest bookstore and grab the second book in the trilogy.
        This book had all the great qualities I look for in a book that can hold my attention days after I finish reading it. I reccommend this book to all those who are fans of magic, paranormal, suspence, romance, and just a great page turners that will keep you guessing!

Characters: 9/10
Plot: 10/10
Originality: 10/10
Entertainment: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Writing Style: 10/10
Cover: 8/10
Total: 9.5/10
 

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Posted in: Magic,Paranormal,paranormal romance,romance

Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Author: Libba Bray 

Publication Date: December 9, 2003 

Pages: 403

Series: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebels Angels, The Sweet Far Thing

Rating: 8.7/10- Great Book!

Synopsis from amazon.com

           A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy--jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order. The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions "for a bit of fun" and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the "others" and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

 Review:

           Libba Bray is a very engaging writer, who truly draws you in with her descriptions and her unique writing style in this 1800's Victiorian Era. A Great and Terrible Beauty is a great beginning to what I expect to be one of the best trilogy's I have ever read. I usually do not read anything historical at all. But recently i've had the wimsical need to add a few to my library and so I got this book. I found this book to be very unique in its plot line. First of all,  very rarely are the historical and paranormal genres combined, but Libbra Bray does it beautiful way. The main character Gemma was a great character to read about. She is a strong leading female character who would rather be her own person and run her life the way she wants it than to conform with the ways that society has categorized woman to be in. The paranormal theme is a unique take on witches. Gemma starts having visions which she cant control and cant predict. The plot really starts to develop as Gemma learns more to the origin of her visions and the dangers and responsibilities she has along with them . As Gemma along with her friends become more dependent on the newfound discovery of their magic consequences that they are not sure how to deal with also come along. Adding mystery and suspence to the novel as well. Overall this was a great book to read, and I cant wait to pick up the next in the series.

With the realms, magic, secret societies, gypsies, and the occasional romantic spark, this book was a interesting book and reccomended to all those who love paranormal, and historical reads.

Characters: 9/10
Plot: 8/10
Originality: 10/10
Entertainment: 7/10
Ending: 9/10
Writing Style: 10/10
Cover: 8/10
Total: 8.7/10
 

  
  

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Posted in: Paranormal,Review