REVIEW Julie Kagawa - The Iron King

 

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.
Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.
GoodReads
At first the story felt very slow to me. But after a couple of chapters I got very into the story and loved it ever since! Meghan is a wonderful character and very courageous.

There is one thing that bothered me while reading The Iron King. When Meghan went to the Nevernever I found all characters to be so mean! (except for Robbie of course but she knew him already from her high school) I know it would be very strange if everyone she met would've liked her, but still it felt a little odd.

The best thing about this book is the action. Sometimes I thought that so much had happened, that I must've read quite a lot of pages, but found I was only a couple of pages further. 

As the story progressed, I started to warm to the character I didn't like at first - Grimalkin the cat. Meghan spend many time with him in the Nevernever and I could really picture how he looked like. He, along with all the characters, were very well described. Everything and everyone felt very realistic.

Than there's Ash. I LOVED him! Robbie's alright as well, but I really rooted for Ash and Meghan. I especially loved the dance scene at the Court.

In conclusion, Julie Kagawa created a wonderful setting, with amazing and believable characters, sweet romance and lots of action. One of my favorite reads this year!

Waiting on Wednesday (01)

I decided to start participating in a meme called 'Waiting on Wednesday', hosted by Breaking the Spine. This meme is about new, upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!

My pick for this week is:
Cristina Garcia - Dreams of Significant Girls 
Publication date: July 12th 2011

Brought together each summer at a boarding school in Switzerland, three girls learn a lot more than just French and European culture. Shirin, an Iranian princess; Ingrid, a German-Canadian eccentric; and Vivien, a Cuban-Jewish New Yorker culinary phenom, are thrown into each other's lives when they become roommates. This is a story of 3 paths slowly beginning to cross and merge as they spend the year apart, but the summers together. Through navigating the social-cultural shoals of the school, developing their adolescence, and learning the confusing and conflicting legacies of their families' past, Shirin, Ingrid, and Vivien form an unbreakable bond. 
Three very different girls, boarding school and the 70's! Count me in :)
It also gives me a very Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants feeling!

New Week

In this post I would like to share book related stuff of the past week.

Books I read:
Julie Kagawa - The Iron Daughter
Julie Kagawa - The Iron Queen

I LOVE this series. After I finished the first one, I bought these two right away! At first I was a bit reluctant to read it because I was busy for school, but I read these books the last week and I couldn't put it down. THEY ARE AMAZING! My reviews are coming soon.

Books started:
Charlaine Harris - Dead as a doornail

This is the fifth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. The first Sookie Stackhouse book is one of my favorite books, because it has a great combination of romance, mystery and vampire stuff. Than I got the second one, and I liked it as well, so I decided to buy three other ones. Sadly, since book three I don't really like the series anymore. To me, it feels a bit repetitive: something bad happens to the paranormal community and coincidentally Sookie's right in the middle of it, plus there's always a new (mostly hot) guy who falls for Sookie. Anyway, I started to read this book because I knew there wouldn't be a book I would love as much as The Iron Queen, and I didn't want to ruin another book on my TBR pile. Sorry, Charlaine!

REVIEW Deborah Wright - Swimming with Dolphins

Goodreads synopsis: Do you ever look out of your window and dream of lying on a gorgeous beach with a handsome stranger? Julia Rothwell certainly does. But with a high-powered job as a Hedge Fund Manager, she barely has time to clean her teeth let alone go on holiday. Then the credit crunch hits and Julia is left with nothing but her redundancy pay. Her best friend Reece encourages her to draw up a list entitled: Ten Things To Do Before I Die. Top of the list is to sleep with an Italian. So begins a crazy, wonderful, rollercoaster of an adventure that sees Julia crossing countries and continents, and experiencing romance and heartbreak, sushi and surprises, volcanoes and gambling, and – if she can make it to the end of her list – swimming with dolphins. Join her on her unforgettable journey!
Goodreads


Based on the cover and the blurb I had high expectations. I really liked 'Swimming with Dolphins', but after finishing it I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. 

The idea of someone traveling across the world after making a list is very appealing to me, I love making lists and I absolutely love traveling. The list Julia made is great and it made for some funny moments. I could really relate to Julia's anxiousness at first. While I love to travel, I've never done it by myself yet!

Even though it all sounds very good and the places visited are wonderful, the book just wasn't for me, because I didn't really like the characters. Especially Reece was just mean, and I noticed right away she wasn't as nice as Julia seemed to think (they are best friends). Then the two guys: Luke and Ciaran. I couldn't understand why Julia liked Luke! Ciaran, Reece's boyfriend and Julia's ex-boyfriend, was much nicer, but only during the last parts of the book. Luke is someone Julia meets while traveling. As I didn't like Luke, I didn't like the way he was with Julia during several times of her journey. That way, she didn't meet many new people and I just got irritated reading about him!

I love reading about people travelling and this book is no exception. I loved to read about the things Julia does and sees on her journey and the destinations really seemed to come alive, but I couldn't stand some of the characters and the ending just seemed a little strange. 

REVIEW Sophie Jordan - Firelight

Goodreads synopsis: 

A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

Goodreads

When reading a book you know there are two possible endings: a happy and a bad one. A romantic ending where the guy and the girl get together and live happily ever after, or an ending where they don't. I'm a sucker for romance and, I confess, happily-ever-afters are a must for me (in most books anyway). To me, Firelight had the worst ending possible, because we don't entirely know how the romance ends, while I would like as much details about their future as would fit! I hate those kind of things, but it does make me wish/hope for a sequel...

While I believe Firelight had the worst possible ending, it had one of THE best opening chapter of all books I've ever read! Firelight opens right in the middle of the action and we immediately read about Jacinda manifesting into a Draki, a descendant of dragons. The chapter is so thrilling, I was hooked from page one. The best part of that tension is that you're instantly part of Jacinda's story and it made me root for her right away. She was a lovely character, although sometimes a bit selfish, but it didn't prevent me from liking her. 

The draki thing was very original and well described. Jacinda and her family left the Drakis pretty soon in the book so we don't learn much about the Draki lifestyle, but what is told is believable. I'm just so curious how Drakis would look like, I couldn't picture them in my head while reading.

One character I didn't particularly like was Jacinda's sister, Tamra. She whined so much that she seemed so young to me, but she and Jacinda are twins. I thought it was so stupid that she complained that everything was about Jacinda, while it seemed to me that she was only thinking about herself and what's best for her!

I'm a bit torn about Will. The whole of the book I really liked him, but some things at the end left me feeling a bit undecided. However, Will is so very sweet and charming! Maybe for some people he would be a little too over the top in real life, but I like charmers. Will was cute, mysterious and so utterly nice I wanted him to be real. 

[There was one sentence in the book that made me think about Bella/Edward: 'A hunter in love with his prey' = 'And so the lion fell in love with the lamb'/'What a stupid lamb'/'What a sick, masochistic lion'. Not that this book is like Twilight, it just made me smile.]

This book is a five star for one me, because the way it sucked me in right away, the lovely Will and the Draki life! I couldn't put it down and I hope there's a sequel.

Book Trailer

Hi everyone,

I personally really like book trailers and am constantly searching for ones I haven't seen yet.

Veronica Roth's debut novel, Divergent, is on my wishlist and I've just discovered its trailer! 

I can't believe I haven't seen it earlier!

Honestly, it's not going to be one of my favorite trailers, because there's only text. I like it
when trailers feature real people and you see part of the story, like movie trailers.
Not that it matters to me, because I've heard great things about this book and I'll
definitely read it!

What do you think of this trailer?

REVIEW Paige Toon - Lucy in the Sky

Goodreads Synopsis: Settling down for a 24-hour flight to Australia, Lucy finds a text message on her phone from a woman claiming to have slept with her boyfriend, James, four times in the past month. Trapped above the Pacific, she questions everything about their relationship, but when she finally calls him James reassures her that it was only his friend playing a joke. James is gorgeous and successful and Lucy adores him, yet at her best friend Molly’s wedding in Sydney she finds herself having doubts and keeping an eye Molly's brother-in-law Nathan? Nathan is a happy-go-lucky surfer boy with no prospects, no place to live, and an almost-girlfriend in tow. Suddenly Lucy finds herself caught between two distant continents and two very different men.    

Goodreads  

I have to say I'm very, very thankful I had a weekend without stress or any responsibilities for school. I still would have read 'Lucy in the Sky' as quickly as I did now, but I wouldn't have done any schoolwork!

This is my second Paige Toon novel, the first one was 'Chasing Daisy'. While I really liked reading Chasing Daisy, I didn't LOVE it because I didn't really like the main character, Daisy. I didn't have the same problem with Lucy. I really liked Lucy and I could empathize with her. She's funny and like-able and I want her as a friend!

The story itself was also very nice. After receiving that horrible text on the plane, I really felt Lucy's emotions. The same with meeting Nathan and her inner conflict between the guys. I think it's all really well done, I really believed Lucy's actions and thoughts and to me it all seemed very realistic.

In many chick lit novels with love triangles there's always one guy that I like, I think mostly because the writer wants me to like that one. In Lucy in the Sky, for me this wasn't the case. At first, I really liked Nathan, but when Lucy returned to the UK I liked James as well. Of course, given the choice in the end there's no question who I would pick (or who Lucy should pick!).

I really didn't want this book to end, I wanted to stay with Lucy! The writing was so good, I felt like I was there and I was a part of the story. Paige Toon has written an amazing debut and I'm really looking forward to reading 'Pictures of Lily'. 

Besides, I think I'm one of the worst cover judges, but I adore this one! Isn't it stunning?!