September 16, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday by Alex: Throne of Glass Edition (62)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
Gaby has given me the opportunity to do this week’s top ten, and since I’m guest blogging on behalf of the Throne of Glass series, guess what this week is going to be about! Yes, my fangirling and how/why you should fangirl with me! YAAAAAAYYY

Actually, Gaby gave me a couple of suggestions on what to do and I’m stealing them. Instead of a traditional 10, today I am going to split it up and do TWO Top 5s!

First of all, a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah for the Throne of Glass series landing at #4 on the New York Times Best Seller List!

Which is a perfect segue into...

September 15, 2014

Review by Alex: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas


Title: The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Release Date: March 4th, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Page Count: 448
Source: Purchased
First Reaction: You'll have to ask Alex, my guest reviewer for the day!
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Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

[Summary Source: Goodreads]

September 14, 2014

Review by Alex: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas


Title: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Release Date: August 7th, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Page Count: 404
Source: Purchased
First Reaction: You'll have to ask Alex, my guest reviewer for the day!
Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.
Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

[Summary Source: Goodreads]

September 9, 2014

Top Ten Underrated Contemporary Books (61)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
This week's Top Ten Tuesday is "Top Ten Underrated Contemporary Books." Or, at least for me it is. The actual topic is "Top Ten Underrated Authors or Books in X Genre." I chose the easy way out on this one: Went through my bookshelves and picked up the books I don't see enough on the interwebs and loved a lot and also happen to all fit in the same genre.

So, if you haven't read a contemporary novel in this stack, you probably should, because I liked them a lot.

September 8, 2014

Stacking the Shelves (18)

"Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly feature hosted by Tynga's Reviews
Okay. It's not Stacking the Shelves day. And I haven't done one of these forever. But I bought/received a lot of very, very good things this summer and I thought I'd share as much as I can with you guys. And when I say "as much as I can" I mean I went over my shelves and if I remembered I got it in the last couple of months, I pulled it and took a picture of it.

I'm really sophisticated.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the many, many books.

September 5, 2014

Review: Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang


Title: Falling Into Place
Author: Amy Zhang
Release Date: September 9th, 2014
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Page Count: 304
Source: ARC from BEA
(I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest
review. No favors were exchanged, my opinions are my own.)

First Reaction: I... have a lot of feels...
Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository
On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road.


Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect?

[Summary Source: Goodreads]

September 4, 2014

Review: The Only Thing Worse Than Witches by Lauren Magaziner


Title: The Only Thing Worse Than Witches
Release Date: August 14th, 2014
Publisher: Dial
Page Count: 272
Source: Purchased
First Reaction: LOOK AT THE CUTENESS. Also: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH BUNNIES.
Barnes & Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | Book Depository
Rupert Campbell is fascinated by the witches who live nearby. He dreams of broomstick tours and souvenir potions, but Rupert’s mother forbids him from even looking at that part of town. The closest he can get to a witchy experience is sitting in class with his awful teacher Mrs. Frabbleknacker, who smells like bellybutton lint and forbids Rupert’s classmates from talking to each other before, during, and after class. So when he sees an ad to become a witch’s apprentice, Rupert simply can’t resist applying.

But Witchling Two isn’t exactly what Rupert expected. With a hankering for lollipops and the magical aptitude of a toad, she needs all the help she can get to pass her exams and become a full-fledged witch. She’s determined to help Rupert stand up to dreadful Mrs. Frabbleknacker too, but the witchling's magic will be as useful as a clump of seaweed unless Rupert can figure out a way to help her improve her spellcasting—and fast!

[Summary Source: Goodreads]