Monday, August 31, 2015

Book Blitz + Giveaways: The Body Institute


The Body Institute
Author: Carol Riggs
Pub. Date: September 01, 2015
Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute. Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body—leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches…

For one, Morgan won’t remember what happens in her “Loaner” body. Once she’s done, she won’t recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she’s been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it’s all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start…

Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan’s mind. She’s feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti–Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she’ll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul…



Share/Bookmark

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Book Review: The Stellow Project by Shari Becker

The Stellow Project
by
Shari Becker
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy and Futuristic
When a killer storm unexpectedly hits Manhattan, seventeen-year-old Lilah Stellow’s dad insists that she and her younger sister, Flori, take refuge at their cabin in the mountains. But instead of joining them with the experimental drug that keeps Lilah alive, he disappears just as news reports name him as a prime suspect in an act of ecoterrorism.

As days pass without her medicine, Lilah finds herself teetering on the edge, caring for her sister, and growing increasingly certain they’re being watched. In her search for answers, Lilah is thrown into the center of a mystery involving an off-the-grid research facility and finds herself drawn in by Daniel, an intriguing boy who is the son of the lead scientist. As she dares to seek answers, Lilah slowly realizes that even the best intentions can go horribly wrong.

4star
"This is a disaster-not a teenage my-hair-is-a-mess disaster, but a hard-core we're-stuck-in-the-mountains-in-the-middle-of-a-tornado disaster"
Well, this was a blast! The characters both MC and the side characters were good, the plot and world building were awesome too, There's not too much of a Romance happening too which is very refreshing for a YA read. The Stellow Project kinda reminds me of Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson, with the experiment and evil scientist and all.

Lilah Stellow isn't a typical kick-ass MC you'll meet in a YA sci-fi fantasy book. She's been in fact, sick her whole life with an unknown pill that's keeping her alive and breathing after her last successful surgery.
"I have crappy lungs, not a-little-wheeze-here-or-there crappy, but full-blown-we'll-take-you-down-if-you're-not-paying-attention crappy."
She might have been cared of her whole life but when the situation calls for it, she knows when to take charge.
"Flori and I have to escape ASAP. We can't wait for Daniel. We need our own plan"
Here is a young girl who knows how to sort out her priorities - her sister. She doesn't wait around for something to happen, she goes for it.


Share/Bookmark

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Feature & Follow #13: Share a random quote from the book you are currently reading

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

FeatureandFollowFriday

This Week's Question:

Share a random quote from the book you are currently reading.
Suggested by Journey Through Fiction.

I'm currently reading "The Stellow Project" by Shari Becker. I'm actually halfway through... and the random quote I can share with you in this book will be..
"No one listens," he said. "No one cares. Only a disaster will make them care."
And I definitely agree.

HAPPY FRIDAY WONDERFUL PEOPLE!

How about you?

Share with us in the comment section :)


Share/Bookmark

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday #13: The Revolution of Ivy by Amy Engel

WaitingonWednesday

The Revolution of Ivy
(The Book of Ivy #2)
by
Amy Engel
(Website|Twitter)
Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty--forced marriages and murder plots--for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.

But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy's life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she's fought for.

WaitingonWednesday
border

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ the first book, "THE BOOK OF IVY" yet, do check out my review here
.
I'll be honest, I was disappointed with the first book, well mostly because I was expecting a kickass dystopian read which I wasn't able to get(you can see other reason on my review). However, I did enjoy the superb character and Romantic development of the book, which was the main reason why I'am patiently waiting for this book, which isn't so far now.

Expected Publication date:November 3, 2015 


Share/Bookmark

Monday, August 24, 2015

Book Blitz + Giveaways: The Viper and the Urchin


The Viper and the Urchin
Author: Celine Jeanjean
Pub. Date:July 27th 2015
Being Damsport's most elegant assassin is hard work. There's tailoring to consider, devilish poisons to concoct, secret identities to maintain... But most importantly, Longinus has to keep his fear of blood hidden or his reputation will be ruined. So, when a scrawny urchin girl threatens to expose his phobia unless he teaches her swordsmanship, he has no choice but to comply.

It doesn't take long for Rory to realise that her new trainer has more eccentricities than she has fleas. But she'll put up with anything, no matter how frustrating, to become a swordswoman like her childhood hero.

What she's not prepared for is a copycat assassin who seeks to replace Longinus, and who hires Rory's old partner in crime to do away with her, as well. Rory and Longinus must set their differences aside and try to work together if they're to stop the copycat. But darker forces than they realise are at play, and with time running out, the unlikely duo find themselves the last line of defence against a powerful enemy who seeks to bring Damsport to its knees.


Buy Links:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Excerpt from The Viper and the Urchin

Longinus sat at a corner table in the Hand and Tankard, surveying the room. He had swapped the black silks he wore as the Viper for simple leathers, the better to blend in with the crowd. He found it best to tone down his natural elegance when mixing with common folk. That said, he was unable to compromise on the cut of his clothes, and he had had his leathers tailored to within an inch of their lives. A shame that he was sitting down, really; they showed off his figure so exquisitely he should have stood at the bar, the better to be admired.

He listened to the talk around him, waiting for the gossip on the Viper’s exploits. He had spent the last few days locked away writing pamphlets about his most recent kill, and he had left them at the docks first thing that morning for a lucky few to find and read. He liked to think that his prose did more than inform the wider public of the Viper’s actions — it elevated their minds, too.

Which was why he was growing rapidly annoyed with the direction the conversations were taking: the weather, the upcoming Revels, and speculation as to whether the Old Girl, the Marchioness of Damsport, was going to pass the torch to her daughter. All of it without interest. It was incredible what mundane banalities the small-minded could find interesting.

Unfortunately, he had to rely on them to spread his reputation about town. His notoriety was improving, but it was nowhere near what it ought to be. The guards always tried to hush his activities, so he had to help things along by distributing his pamphlets. Notoriety helped him get commissions, but most importantly, one could only be an artist if one was spoken of. There was nothing worse for an assassin than obscurity.

At last, a woman he knew by sight on account of her starched white apron arrived. Mistress White Apron sat down and regarded the others around her table with the kind of smugness particular to a woman about to unveil a fresh piece of gossip.

“Have you heard the latest on the Smallport killing?”

At last! Longinus smiled. Mistress White Apron could always be counted on. Maybe he should find out where she lived and distribute his pamphlets directly to her door.

“Yeah, I hear it were that Viper character again,” said a sailor.

“Everyone knows that,” said the woman with contempt. “He leaves a card behind. But have you heard the particulars? Hmm?” She looked at the faces of her audience, so puffed up with self-satisfaction she almost seemed to be expanding. Longinus beamed. The saintly woman was about to unveil his new poison.

Mistress White Apron leaned forward. “I have it on good authority that he skinned his victim. Slipped the skin right off, like you do with a rabbit.”

Longinus almost fell off his stool. Skinned? Skinned? Had that idiot even read his pamphlet?
What is the point of me writing them if these simpletons blithely ignore them?
“Oh really? I heard it were poison,” said another woman.
“Not this time,” said Mistress White Apron. “I heard it from my cousin’s sister-in-law’s nephew. He works with the guards.” She lowered her voice. “I hear the Viper even drinks the blood of his victims, like a vampire.”

Longinus felt himself go green at the thought.

Ridiculous, this is ridiculous…

But there was nothing ridiculous about the image that was now firmly imprinted in his mind.
“You’re making it up,” said the sailor, obviously disgusted.
“I am not,” sniffed Mistress White Apron. “Just because you can’t handle —”
“If I might interrupt,” said a small pinched man at a table next to them. “I saw the body myself and…”

Longinus couldn’t listen to any more. The butchery of his art was almost as unbearable as the thought of the Viper drinking blood. He fumbled into his purse and produced two coins, which he threw on the counter before hurrying out.

The propensity of the common man’s mind to turn to the violent and bloody really was intolerable.


Share/Bookmark

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Book Review: Imposter by Chanda Stafford

Imposter 
(Live Once #2)
by
Chanda Stafford
Genre: Sci Fi & Fantasy
Mira was supposed to die, but against all odds, she survived. Now forced to impersonate Socrates, the man whose soul should have replaced her own, she must face the government, the rebels, and the young man she loves in an attempt to forge a better future for herself and her people.

Will was supposed to save her, but he watched her die instead. Now, overwhelmed by grief and grappling with secrets of his own, Will must serve Socrates, protect him, and give his life for him if necessary.

Success could mean a new beginning.
Failure could end it all.

Too bad some secrets refuse to stay buried.

3 Stars
“I’m pretty sure we’re all monsters, every last one of us, and the key is figuring out who is worse.”
I would like to start by saying that Imposter was so much better than First, the first book in the Lived Once Trilogy. After that cliffhanger ending of First, I thought that the sequel was going to be promising and exciting. It was predictable if I must say, but if the reason of the cliffhanger ending was to make the readers rave for the next book, then it worked, atleast for me.
“The war for freedom is never over. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how many speeches you’ve given, or how many fights you’ve fought, there’s always a new star to reach for, and some new horizon to sail toward.”
Looking back, I realized that First mainly focused on introducing complex and promising world building and character development that nothing exciting and kick-ass happened. First was told on a dual POV, Socrates, the first's of the first and Mira, the second he picked on one of the Texas farm. Imposter is still told on a dual POV, since Socrates is now unavailable, his place was taken over by Will, Mira's supposed to be love interest.

In Imposter, Mira is now living as a First and deceiving people around her. First are a selected group of people who get to leave for as long as they wanted so that their talents and knowledge wouldn't die when they do.
“Our purpose is to help mold the future while remembering the past so we don't repeat our mistakes.”
description

Immortality with purpose.


Share/Bookmark

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Feature & Follow #12: Pick an animal as a pet.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

FeatureandFollowFriday

This Week's Question:

If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would you pick? Fictional ones count too!
Suggested by Book Cat Pin.

I love Puppies/Dogs, in fact we currently have 4 healthy and very loving Dogs I could not ask for more!
Because of this topic, I found the need to share some of my moments with them <3 Bare with me please. :)

Their early days:

dogies dogies

When my dog thought I've been spending too much time on the internet:

dogies

When our dog is sick as shit: :(

dogies

Lastly when they just don't give a damn: ;)

dogies dogies

Aren't they adorable? Again, I couldn't have ask for more adorable and loving pets, other than Katniss, Chocolate, Kin and Snoopy (Our dog names). I named Katniss LOL. But if I could ask for another one, maybe, I wouldn't mind having Panda.. a talking panda for a fictional pet! LOL. ;)

HAPPY FRIDAY WONDERFUL PEOPLE!

How about you?

Share with us in the comment section :)


Share/Bookmark

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday #12: Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer

WaitingonWednesday

Thicker Than Water
by
Brigid Kemmerer
(Website|Twitter)
On his own.

Thomas Bellweather hasn’t been in town long. Just long enough for his newlywed mother to be murdered, and for his new stepdad’s cop colleagues to decide Thomas is the primary suspect.

Not that there’s any evidence. But before Thomas got to Garretts Mill there had just been one other murder in twenty years.

The only person who believes him is Charlotte Rooker, little sister to three cops and, with her soft hands and sweet curves, straight-up dangerous to Thomas. Her best friend was the other murder vic. And she’d like a couple answers.

Answers that could get them both killed, and reveal a truth Thomas would die to keep hidden…
WaitingonWednesday
border

Another book from Brigid Kemmerer? GET IT ON!

Ever since I get to read the Elemental Series, Brigid Kemmerer has officially entered my list of Authors-I-Freaking-Adore! Not that it matter.. really.. but still.. **Mentally find a good reason why entering that list is an honor, found nothing.. change topic**

ANYWAY! Aside from my obvious adoration with the author, some additional reason why I'm waiting for this book is that the blurb sounds intriguing and just look at that cover.. Doesn't that look gorgeous?

Expected Publication date:October 6th 2015


Share/Bookmark

Monday, August 17, 2015

Release Day Blitz + Giveaways: Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders


HARRIET WOLF'S SEVENTH BOOK OF WONDERS
Author: Julianna Baggott
Pub. Date: August 18, 2015
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 336
A brilliantly crafted saga about three generations of women and their secrets, including the discovery of a final unpublished book by the family matriarch, a revered and reclusive author.

Harriet Wolf has a final confession. It can be found only in the final book of the series that made her a famous writer. But does that book exist?

This absorbing novel spans the entire twentieth century, telling the moving story of a mother, her daughter, and two granddaughters, one of whom is the only person alive who knows the whereabouts of Harriet's final book. When a hospitalization brings the family back together, the mystery not only of Harriet's last book, but also of her life, hangs in the balance. Will the truth ever be known, or is Harriet's story gone forever?

A multi-generational tale of long-lost love, motherhood, and family secrets, this is Baggott's most sweeping and mesmerizing novel yet.

Buy Links:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Excerpt from Harriet Wolf's Seventh Book of Wonders: 

Chapter One
The Baby, Twice Born Harriet

This is how the story goes: I was born dead—or so my mother was told. According to the physician, good old Dr. Brumus, I didn’t cry. I wasn’t capable of even this innate reflex. I was mute and sallow and already a bleeder, one red bead poised at each nostril. Imagine my exhausted mother—the saint, Irish and Catholic—her legs sagging wide beneath the bloody sheet like two pale, bony wings.

The year was 1900. The world was taking a new shape: the Paris Exposition’s moving sidewalks, Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, and a tunnel being dug for the subway at Borough Hall, Manhattan. But in our house near the Chesapeake, not far from bustling Baltimore—with its canneries and foundries, its harbor of moaning steamboats, its tenements teeming with typhoid—there was little to do for either my mother or me, medically. Science had come only so far.

But given that Dr. Brumus—winded, permanently overwhelmed—had delivered three stillborn babies from my mother already, it seemed, for the moment, he’d finally won something. He was always watchful, however, always squinting as if in bright sun, even at dusk, the hour I was born, mosquitoes whining past an ear. And Brumus knew, what with my bleeding nose and my pallid, lightly furred skin, that something wasn’t right. He wrapped me in a blanket—though the summer hung wet and steaming outside. Like an aging football captain, he shuttled me down the stairs to the porch, where my father, the banker, was pacing. Dr. Brumus presented me to my father and gave the news: “It isn’t fit.” I wasn’t a girl yet. I was still dangling before my father, midair, a lost pronoun, and it would take years before I would become a child in any real form in my father’s eyes.

“No, it isn’t fit,” my father agreed, perhaps expecting as much, given the three lost before me.

“It may only live long enough for her to get attached,” Dr. Brumus said, teary now.

“The baby’s mother isn’t fit either,” my father said. “Mary has those dark moods. You’ve seen them. She couldn’t withstand that kind of attachment and loss.”

Dr. Brumus tried to hand me to my father, whose face was poised above mine, his nose fat and squat, a boxy fender, though he was youngish and handsome in his taut pink skin and glossy hair. He didn’t like what he saw. “Take it with you,” he said.

Dr. Brumus oversaw the Maryland School for Feeble Minded Children in Owings Mills, long before Baltimore started spilling into it with such ferocity. My father was betting that I wouldn’t make it—but what if I did? Was he asking Dr. Brumus to be my father, or at least my warden? The two men had known each other since they were boys.

“Jackie,” Dr. Brumus said, using the pet name normally reserved for times when he’d drunk a Scotch and soda and was looking slack and heavy-lidded. But that wasn’t his mood now. His eyes raced. “I can’t take the baby with me—”

“You said it’s going to die. You said so!” And my father became a little boy, his face plump and sweaty. “Where’s the baby?” my mother called, her voice carrying from the open bedroom window above, her Irish accent heavier because she was too tired to fight it. She could have been calling to them from reeds, a marsh with a fog rolling in. My father shook his head. “No,” he whispered to the doctor, fiercely. And then my father marched upstairs, past the water stains on the wallpaper and into the bedroom. “No,” he said to his wife in a lilting voice of his own. Was he going to sing to her? “Darling, no.”

And so, for my mother, I was dead.

But still there was a baby. And this other baby with its dim pulse was bundled and taken away to start its other life at the Maryland School for Feeble Minded Children.

In just over a decade’s time, this child would become a supposed Girl Genius, and, more important, she would find Eppitt in the laundry and love him too much. (You don’t know Eppitt yet, dear ones, but you will.) And then this same child would make her way back here again—to this very porch, to her mother’s bed.

Some of us are born dead, some never really born at all, and others are born fresh every day—as if they’ve had new eyes stitched on overnight—which is the best way to live.

I hope you will understand eventually why I’ve denied all of this for so long. Are you reading this, my Eleanor? My Ruthie? My dear Tilton? Are your eyes catching on these words, fastening one to the next, aware of my life collecting on the page? Are you here with me? I still desire the veil of fiction, the means to monkey and fidget with the details so I can convince myself that I’m writing about another baby, another mother, another life. If not that, then I wish it were lovely. But what did I learn in writing out the lives of my characters Weldon and Daisy? You can’t have love without knowing sorrow; you can’t have miracles without desperation.

Here, then. My desperation.

Excerpted from Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders by Julianna Baggott. Copyright © 2015 by Julianna Baggott. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY. All rights reserved.


Share/Bookmark

Book Review: Thirteen Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt

Thirteen Days of Midnight
by
Leo Hunt
(Goodreads|Twitter) Genre: Paranormal
In a devilishly dark and funny debut, a teen finds himself the unwitting beneficiary of eight enslaved and angry ghosts seeking bloody vengeance.

When Luke Manchett’s estranged father dies unexpectedly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance: a collection of eight restless spirits, known as his Host, who want revenge for their long enslavement. Once they figure out that Luke has no clue how to manage them, they become increasingly belligerent, and eventually mutiny. Halloween (the night when ghosts reach the height of their power) is fast approaching, and Luke knows his Host is planning something far more trick than treat. Armed with only his father’s indecipherable notes, a locked copy of The Book of Eight, and help from school outcast Elza Moss, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic and send his unquiet spirits to their eternal rest—or join their ghostly ranks himself.

4star
"I am an alpha male with testosterone leaking out of my sweat glands. Ham, my loyal and subservient pack member, is looking to me for guidance in this situation."
Reading Thirteen Days of Midnight was a blast, pretty good for a debut novel! Last time I read about necromancer.. Well, let us just say that the experience wasn't so good that I'd rather not reminisce, but in this book I'm happy to say that I had a great reading experience.


Share/Bookmark

Friday, August 14, 2015

Book Review: The Kiss by Lucy Courtenay

The Kiss
by
Lucy Courtenay
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
'Aphrodite kissed a mortal once by the light of this moon, many thousands of years ago. It drove him crazy. The next person that he kissed - boum. The craziness travelled like this from person to person. It travelled through time. Everywhere - boum! Tu comprends?' 'Where did it end up?' I whisper. His lips are on my cheek now. 'It ended with me. And now I am going to pass it to you. You will like that, mermaid?' Imagine the perfect kiss. A legendary kiss that makes people crazy with love. Imagine a summer's night, on a moonlit beach in the South of France, as French boy Laurent kisses 16-year-old Delilah after the best chat-up line she's ever heard. BOOM! Delilah is pretty sure the Kiss is fiction, despite her head-spinning holiday fling. But with all the sudden crushes, break-ups and melt-downs happening back at home, the Kiss starts looking a little too real for comfort. If only Delilah could keep track of where it's gone ...Who knew one kiss could cause this much trouble? A hilarious rom-com that will delight Geek Girls everywhere!

4star
‘Love will come when it is ready, cherie. Not when Aphrodite is horny’
The Kiss is one of those very few contemporary romance books that made me question myself after reading, why is this my least favorite genre?

I was honestly only interested in reading The kiss at the mention of the Greek Goddess in the blurb. I'am a sucker in everything about Greek Gods and you have PJO series to blame for that. Anyway, I was expecting all sorts of things when I started this book, like insta-loves, cringe-worthy cheesy lines and teen romance gone wrong. So imagine my surprise when this book turn out to be a fun, fast-paced and very relatable read that I was having a hard time putting it down.

This book has great writing and intriguing story line that will keep making you flip on to the next page, but what make this book a winner for me was the realistic portrayal of the characters.

I find Delilah, the MC of this book adorable. Well, I can read a lot of hate being thrown at her on some reviews, and I can't blame them. She's.. someone who doesn't really make a good first impression. 
‘If you love me at all, don’t go all exclusive with the Onion. We’re young and free. Don’t you want to stay like that for a bit longer? Not answering to anyone and doing what you want when you want and not so it fits in with football practice nights?’
First she calls her bestfriend's boyfriend an onion, then she accuses him as a lousy kisser, just because she experience a lushiest kiss from a french, now she wants her bestfriend to break-up with her lovy boyfriend just because his kiss doesn't meet her standard.

But that's not the worst of it. Since she can't make Tabs, her bestfriend, break-up with the onion, I mean, Sam, she made her come to a party to experience a "proper" kiss to convince her not to get settled with the onion. Which, eventually ended up to break-up. 


Share/Bookmark