Book Covers

Book Covers I Spotted This Week 

World After

World After by Susan Ee 


“Would she have turned out like them if we weren’t in the World After?”

“Because she looked like a monster, that’s why. And it never occurred to me that monsters might feel pain.”

World After starts with Penryn, her family and other survivors going to the Resistance’s new head quarters. No matter how hard Penryn tries her, Paige and their mother will never fit in with the other survivors because they’re too closely affected by the angels. Penryn the girl back from death, Paige the flesh eating mutated child and their mum the paranoid and crazy women with a cattle prod.

Penryn doesn`t know how to act around Paige, she wants to be her sister and yet at the same time she’s afraid. When Paige runs away after attacking a fellow survivor, Penryn has no choice but to go after her sister. Also along the way she’ll realise what extent a certain angel (Uriel) will go (killing off humans) to fool the rest of the angels into thinking the apocalypse is coming.

The Characters:

Penryn the anti-hero – Penryn always puts her family before herself – she’ll do anything to protect Paige, She’s a fighter –  with the help of Pooky  Bear she learns how to wield a sword it doesn`t come naturally to her but she doesn`t give up, she makes mistakes – saving others puts a risk over her family, she wants something between Raffe but knows it’s not possible not only because he’s an angel, she helps others even Raffe because it’s a instinct to help others, she’s not afraid to ask for help and finally she never gives up even if it nearly kills her.  

“I am just a kid, not a hero. Heroes have a tendency to die in horrible ways.”

Raffe the Angel – Raffe is a fighter – even if he’s outnumbered he’ll keep fighting until he’s got what he wants; his wings, Pooky Bear and Penryn. We don’t see ENOUGH of Raffe in World After but he’s the type of character who’ll be at the heart of whatever crazy shit the angels are up to

.

Paige – Just imagine being tortured and stitched up and being in pain every waking moment and on top of that you can’t eat normal food and your sister’s afraid of you – who do you turn to?

The Mum – Scary, brave and not afraid of a damn thing!

“She sees me once in a guy's arms and she has us married already. I wonder what Raffe would think of my mom being his mother-in-law.” 

The Romance:

This series is sure taking it’s time building the romance up but the memories of how Raffe saw Penryn are sweet. And the moments they spend together in this book just makes you want more – how about a second (proper) kiss.  Even thought we don’t see enough of Raffe in World After he’ll be at the heart of chaos and where there’s chaos there is Penryn. So I think they’ll see plenty of each other.

“She wasn’t made to be alone.” 
“I guess none of us are.” 
Our eyes meet and an electric tingle runs through me. 
“She missed you,” I say in a whisper. 
“Did she?” His voice is a soft caress. His gaze into my eyes is so intense that I swear he sees straight into my soul. 
“Yes.” Warmth flushes my cheeks. I… “She thought about you all the time.” 
The candlelight flickers a soft glow along his jawline, along his lips. “I hated losing her.” His voice is a low growl. “I hadn’t realized just how attached I’d gotten.” He reaches and moves a strand of wet hair out of my face. “How dangerously addictive she could be.” 

“But for now, for just for this moment, I let myself be a seventeen-year-old girl in a strong guy’s arms. I even let some of the what-ifs seep in, the kind of possibilities that might have blossomed between us in the World Before. Just for a little while. Before I carefully fold my dreams away into the vault in my head.”

The Plot:

World After isn’t as good as Angelfall but that doesn`t make it bad. World After is like a filler book because its main focus is Penryn finding out a little bit about the angels and why this apocalypse is important. We find out the reason behind the scorpions/locust and how they’re linked to Paige.

“It’s painful to see that people prefer a bad guy who looks like an angel to a good guy who looks like a demon.”

“I’m all about personal business. Every battle I have is personal.” 

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Upcoming Books With Awesome Covers

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling 

Harry is in his sixth year of Hogwarts and this is the year where he’s finally allowed to live his life without too many problems. It’s about time.

One thing different about this book was that it didn`t start at the Dursley’s home and was instead about the muggle Prime Minister meeting Fudge – How well the Prime Minister takes the knowledge of magic and wizards/witches.

Then there’s Snape who is entrusted with protecting Malfoy even though Malfoy doesn`t trust Snape at all with his plans.

Harry is given private lessons from Dumbledore and in these lessons Harry gets glimpses into Voldermolt’s past. Harry realises that Tom Riddle is quite a twisted person and he’s also hungry for knowledge and power.

Slughorn is a teacher who used to teach at Hogwarts and with a little help from Harry, Dumbledore persuades Slughorn to come back. Slughorn surrounds himself with famous people, people who have the connections and people who have potential – one of his favourite students were Lily Evans and Tom Riddle.

Harry’s dislike/hatred for Snape gets turned up a notch and the feeling’s mutual. To the point where Harry’s being a smartass

“Do you remember me telling you we are practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, sir."
"There's no need to call me "sir" Professor."
The words had escaped him before he knew what he was saying.” 

 Dumbledore to an extent annoyed me for how much pressure he put on Harry however their trust for each other was both ways. Dumbledore realises that he has to tell Harry about Voldermolt in order for Harry to survive.

The horcruxes are objects/beings in which your soul can be placed to make you immortal and Voldermolt has 7. This sets the scene for the final book.

What does the Half-Blood Prince mean? Whilst watching the movies I actually never knew what the Half-Blood Prince meant. Basically Snape’s mother’s surname was Prince and when she married a muggle Snape become the Half-Blood Prince!

Lastly Hermione and Ron need to get to together – forget Lavender! Also Ginny and Harry and when they kissed …

Side note: Percy you’re still a dickhead

Lastly I love the friendship between the trio and how throughout the books they’ve always (with a few exceptions) trusted Harry – however in this book Harry’s knows something’s going on with Malfoy (and Snape) and no one believes him. Maybe because who would have thought Voldermolt would have recruited a 16 year old

The ending: Hogwarts without Dumbledore – I can’t picture that (everybody’s screwed)

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

(Don't You) Forget About Me

by Kate Karyus Quinn

Publication: June 10th 2014 by HarperTeen, 336 pages

Welcome to Gardnerville.

A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.

Except...
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Books About Friendship

The Lunar Chronicles

Four different girls coming together for a cause and making this bond and friendship

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

When your best friend finds out you’re a demon and still tries to save you

Before I Fall  

Realising some friends bring out the bad in you whilst other friends bring the out the good

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Every friendship has its downs and not every friendship is perfect

Vampire Academy

It’s Rose and Lissa need I say any more!

The Fault In Our Stars

Isaac and Gus!

Catching Fire

Most of the Victors had to work together and this created a friendship

The Book Thief

Rudy and Liesel

Harry Potter Series

The Trio of misfits!

Percy Jackson Series

When fighting monsters, friendship is key 

Book Covers

Book Covers I Spotted This Week 

Impostor by Susanne Winnacker

Impostor by Susanne Winnacker

There was happiness, there was love, and there was the imposter who didn`t belong. How could they not see through the mask?

Tessa is a Variant, one who can impersonate anybody by just touching them and absorbing their DNA. After training with the “Forces with Extraordinary Abilities” also known as FEA for a couple of years, Tessa is getting her first mission. To impersonate a dying girl, the victim of a serial killer and solve the case.

Right from the beginning of the story Tessa was relying on others too much. And by others I specially mean Alec (nothing bad could happen to her because he’ll protect her) and also Summers and Holly. Also after two years of training her abilities with the FEA, Tessa is sent on a mission however she doesn’t know how to fight and protect herself without the using her ability – so she’s given TWO DAYS of training. Yep I can see how well that’s gonna go.

Also she just can’t help whining and complaining about how her ability isn’t as good as others to her friend. I pity Holly at times. The only thing Tessa actually turns into is Kate, a little girl, Madison and Alec. She turns into the little girl a lot!  

Tessa has feelings for Alec but Alec has a girlfriend called Kate. You can clearly tell that Alec and Tessa have feelings for each other – so what do they do … Well there’s this really cringe worthy scene near the beginning involving Tessa impersonating Kate and betraying Alec’s trust. It was so cringe worthy – I skimmed through it. Anyway when Alec and Kate’s relationship is on the rocks clearly because of her – she doesn`t feel guilty for it, no she’s just afraid for herself. Seriously!

So her mission is to impersonate Madison, the victim. Tessa’s life from now till she solves the case is sacrificed. Most Variants work for the FEA, their lives are dedicated to training and working for the government.

Some aspects to this story were so unrealistic – after surviving and nearly being killed by a serial killer no sane person would let their child go to school the day after coming back from the hospital, Madison’s friend lies to Madison’s parents on her behalf so Madison/Tessa can go to meet a strange – after an incident like that!

There are various awkward moments in this story like checking out Devon, Madison’s twin brother. Very uncomfortable and can I say… I sense a love triangle in the next book.

Also the romance element of this story seemed to overtake the entire plot of the story – Alec this Alec that. Like seriously you’re bait towards a murderer do you really thing Alec is the thing you should be whining about.

We also find a lot of things about the seemingly perfect Madison – She’s pregnant with her English teacher’s baby and he’s cheating on his wife and she’s cheating on her boyfriend. This shows Tessa that she really needs to dig deeper and focus more on her mission not just to avenge Madison but because she doesn`t really know anyone’s secrets.

One thing that was really good with this story was that it had a couple of suspects and they were all backed up with solid evidence – so it was really hard for me to guess who the murderer was because there was so much mystery and the entire plotline on who the murderer was really built up.

A lot of things were very unnecessary in this book like the amount of side characters, the “enemy” variant army – the idea of Abel’s Army is such a cliché and also when Tessa was loosing control of her abilities and the only thing that kept her sane was Alec.

 But I still for some reason I enjoyed this book – It’s the type of book that gradually with a bad start gets better and better.

  

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

Winterkill

by Kate A Boorman

Publication: September 9th 2014

Emmeline knows the woods outside her settlement are forbidden. The mysterious enemy that wiped out half her people lurks there, keeping them isolated in an unfamiliar land with merciless winters. 

Living with the shame of her grandmother's insubordination, Emmeline has learned to keep her head down and her quick tongue silent. When the settlement leader asks for her hand in marriage, it's a rare opportunity to wash the family stain clean--even if she has eyes for another. But before she is forced into an impossible decision, her dreams urge her out to the woods, where she finds a path she can't help but follow. The trail leads to a secret that someone in the settlement will kill to protect. Her grandmother went down that path and paid the price.

If Emmeline isn't careful, she will be next. 

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

I just couldn’t connect with the main character at first but I’d heard it was supposed to be a really good and sad story so I read on.

Article 5  by Kristen Simmons

The first chapter annoyed me so much I just couldn’t on but luckily I gave it another go.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor 

The flashback was so damn long and this story dragged on a lot. (I did enjoy the book and the second book was much much better)

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

The writing style and the entire temple plot story confused me so much

Pure by Julianna Baggott

I didn’t really like the multi-povs and what I thought was gonna happen

Prodigy by Marie Lu

I just wasn’t in the mood to read this story

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton 

I didn’t really like the beginning of the book – I couldn’t get into it

Skylark by Meagan Spooner

The first section of this book was confusing and boring – luckily the book gets much better

Speechless by Hannah Harrington

I don`t really like flashbacks

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake 

Some parts of this book was so boring and dragged on 

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Unremembered by Jessica Brody 

Unremembered follows the story of Seraphina, a girl who wakes up floating around in the middle of a plane crash wreckage, at sea.  This is her first memory.

From this point onwards Seraphina is forced into the spotlight as she’s the only survivor of the plane crash. Until we find out that she wasn’t even on the plane and her DNA’s not matching any databases.

Nicknamed Violet after the colour of her eyes, Seraphina goes to live in a remote place with her foster family. With the help of her foster brother and mother she slowly learns the simple things we do in life like shopping. You see Seraphina learn about things that suit her and how she tries different foods/hobbies for the first time.  As well as figuring out how this world works Seraphina is trying to find out who she is. With the help of nightmares, a boy who claims to love her, a guy who’s following her, a cryptic message and a necklace. It’s no surprise that this girl’s confused.

When Seraphina finds out the truth about herself she asks herself;

What makes us human?

Should people really be messing with how our brains function? Should it be right for some company to know how to control the mind? Should any company have that much power?

Should we know how to time travel?

Most of the book consists of Seraphina finding out the truth and figuring out how to blend into society so the element of time travel isn’t really explored and explained as well as I’d hoped it would be.

I liked how she learns bit by bit about people and how her relationship with her foster brother develops – these relationships are gradually built up. But then we have Seraphina’s and Zen’s relationship. It was so bloody awkward – yeah I get that they loved each other in the past (I’m trying not to spoil anything) but in this point of time their relationship is uncomfortable and yet she still runs away with him and trusts him. 

Reveal It

Reveal It

Reveal It is a post I do on Saturdays that concludes what I found this week

Entertainment

First of all a two Tfios TV Spots

Two songs from TFIOS Soundtrack 

Ed Sheeran's All Of The Stars:

Grouplove's Let Me In: 

Book Related

Book Covers I Spotted 

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday

 A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that people are eagerly anticipating.

My choice for Waiting on Wednesday this week is: 

Lark Ascending 

by Meagan Spooner 

Publication: October 9th 2014 by Carolrhoda Lab

Lark thought returning home to face her city was the hardest thing she'd ever do. She was wrong.

No longer the girl who ran for her life, Lark's ready for the Institute. She never dreamed she'd find a rebellion, a Renewable, and those she used to love embroiled in the fight of their lives. She's mastered her magic, but she still doesn't know if she can master the darkness stirring inside her. 

Nothing is simple anymore, and finding her place in this war—and discovering the terrible secrets behind her ruined world—might cost her everything she has left.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Book Covers I'd Frame As Pieces of Art