In My Mailbox | 06

A Meme By The Story Siren

Hi, I'm back! Man, these past few weeks were the longest I have been through. I'm not used to working 14, 15, or sometimes 17 hour shifts, and getting only an average of 3 hours of sleep. I feel like I've accomplished something though, and I really am glad to be back. So, as I only got one day off, I didn't really have any time to read, but I did get a few books over the hiatus that I thought I would share with you:

Books Purchased on Bookperk.com:

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller *Signed Copy*

The Odyssey of Homer Translated by Richmond Lattimore

These were actually purchased in a bundle, and I have very much been looking forward to reading 'The Song of Achilles' after hearing about it on the 'Books on the Nightstand' podcast. This was also my first purchase from Bookperk, and I must say, I think I'm in love with the site. Such good deals! I like how cheap it is to get signed books, and the site is by Harper-Collins so it's legit! I live in a city that rarely has authors come to visit, so I'm glad to find I'm not completely left out of getting autographed books...

Books Purchased at Hastings Entertainment:

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman

Why don't we have a Hastings here?!?! I think this store was the best one I visited while in Alamogordo. I only got one day off work as a 'safety' day, so I went to Hastings, which I discovered is like Barnes & Noble, FYE, Hot Topic and Spencer's combined. And some of the books are a lot cheaper - only paid $3 for Flygirl, brand new!

Book won in a contest on Bookperk.com:

So Pretty It Hurts by Kate White *Signed Copy*

I've honestly never heard of this series, but I like a good mystery, and it was free. Plus, it's such a lovely cover...

Short Hiatus

Okay, so I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to, and the reason is that I recently got a new (temporary) job at the end of March. But starting tomorrow, I start working about 14 - 16 hours per day (and it's an outdoor job). This means that any free time I have will probably *hopefully* be spent sleeping, so I'm just going to take a break blogging for now. This job ends around May 26th, so by then I'll be able to start this up again. See you soon!

In My Mailbox | 05

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren, in which book bloggers share what books they have gotten during the week. It's a great way to see what others are reading, and to discover interesting books as well!

These were purchased on eBay:

The Samurai Girl Series by Carrie Asai

The Book of the Sword

The Book of the Shadow

The Book of the Pearl

The Book of the Wind

The Book of the Flame

The Book of the Heart

I remember reading the Samurai Girl series in middle school, and I loved it. I'm hoping I'll still like them if I try re-reading them. I think I've just been on a nostalgia kick lately.

That Which Bites by Celis T. Rono

(The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles #1)

That Which Bites has been on my TBR list for a while now. I'm a huge fan of vampire novels, and this one had some good ratings on both Amazon and Goodreads, so I had to get a copy. I like that it takes place in a world where vampires have taken over, with only a few humans remaining for food supply, and features a girl partnering with a vamp to bring down the system.

Discount Armageddon by Seanon McGuire

Amazon | Goodreads

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...

My Thoughts:

What can I say? I devoured this book in only a few days (it would have been less if it weren't for my job). I loved it! Not only was the writing superb, but the world that Ms. McGuire created was so well thought-out. It was easy to picture and imagine all of the different species/mythical races that were living side-by-side with  the humans. I think my favorites were the Aeslin Mice that were living with Verity in her apartment - they were very religious and had daily celebrations for the oddest reasons. I just thought it was so cute that they cheered for anything, and even tried to be thoughtful by piling up their trash by the base of Verity's garbage can.

I don't think I really have anything negative to say about this book. Perhaps the male lead, Dominic De Luca (from the Covenant), could have been developed a bit more, but I'm sure more will be told about him as the series progresses. It was really nice not to have romance as the sole focus of the story, and I thought the author blended it seamlessly into the main plot, which was Verity teaming up with Dominic in an effort to find out why so many Cryptids (non-human sentient beings) were disappearing.

Another thing to note is that this story just flowed so well. I did not find any scenes in the novel boring, and I really enjoyed learning about Verity's family history, because rather than writing some dull and lengthy paragraphs to explain this information, Ms. McGuire wrote funny and entertaining descriptions of the Price history. She also told it in a way that an actual person would describe their family (not like a simplified Encyclopedia description).

All in all this was a great start to what looks to be an exciting and addictive new series.

{In My Mailbox} eBay Haul

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme started by The Story Siren, in which book bloggers share what books they have gotten during the week. It's a great way to see what others are reading, and to discover interesting books as well!

All of the following are books I purchased on eBay:

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Liz Braswell

Night World (Omnibus #1) by L.J. Smith

I have already read Sunshine and The Nine Lives of Chloe King, and I loved them so much I had to get my own copies. I look forward to reading the others, though!

Waiting On Wednesday | 04

'Waiting on Wednesday' is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking the Spine, which features upcoming releases that I am anticipating the most! Here's what I can't wait to read at the moment:

False Memory 
by Dan Krokos
August 14, 2012

Miranda wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn’t at all surprised by Miranda’s shocking ability. Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn’t easy—especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving. Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn’t seem to matter...when there may not be a future. Dan Krokos' debut is a tour-de-force of non-stop action that will leave readers begging for the next book in this bold and powerful new series.

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Amazon | Goodreads

My Summary:

A young girl named Kelsey gets a summer job at a Circus and becomes drawn to their main attraction, a white tiger. Soon she gets the job offer of the century from a man visiting from India named Mr. Kadam who purchases the tiger - an offer to go to India to help transport the tiger to its new home (all expenses paid.) She agrees and soon finds out that not only is the tiger really a 300+ year old (hot) Indian prince named Ren (who can turn into a human for a few moments each day), but that she is the only one who can help him break the curse, which entails searching through various caverns and mystical Indian locations for powerful items that may be the key to making Ren a full-time human again.

What I liked best:

The Indian mythology, and aspects of the culture. I thought that made Tiger's Curse different than other YA novels, and to me that made the story more appealing. It was nice to read a novel that was about a cursed tiger prince rather than your average vampire/werewolf/ghost etc. novel.

What I liked least:

The way it was written. I would be reading, and every few pages I would be thinking, Who talks like this? For example, I understand that the author wanted to add background information about Indian mythology for the readers' sake, but the way she had Mr. Kadam explain things to Kelsey sounded like he was quoting the Encyclopedia Britannica. I also didn't like how quickly Kelsey believed everything - she finds out that the circus tiger is really a good looking prince, and she just believes it, and heads off on a journey with him to cure his curse without batting an eyelash? Really? I felt that all the characters were all about as cliché as they could be.

Overall thoughts:

It took me a while to read this one. I thought it started off rather slowly, and since I was quickly becoming annoyed with the main character, Kelsey, I kept putting it down. But the story really picked up during the last half. Yes, Kelsey actually became even more annoying than I had thought at the beginning, but the plot moved faster and became quite interesting - mostly when Kelsey and Ren went searching for the Golden Fruit in an effort to help break Ren's curse and turn him into a human again. So, while I thought the writing and bits of the story really had some issues (and did I mention having A LOT of WTF? moments when it came to the writing?), it still had a few okay-enough moments. Who knows, I may eventually get around to finishing the series out of sheer curiosity - just not anytime soon.

If you read the series, or are planning to, please share your thoughts! (by the way, don't you just love that cover?)