Waiting on Wednesday (164)

Hey,

This week I'm waiting for...

Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas 

Release Date: September 15, 2015

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…

The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

Leave a link to your WoW post in the comments below so I can check it out!

Have a good week,
Sam :D

My review of The Declaration

The Declaration (The Declaration #1) by Gemma Malley
Release Date: November 8, 2012 (New edition)
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon | The Book Depository

Anna Covey is a ‘Surplus’. She should not have been born. In a society in which ageing is no longer feared, and death is no longer an inevitability, children are an abomination.

Like all Surpluses, Anna is living in a Surplus Hall and learning how to make amends for the selfish act her parents committed in having her. She is quietly accepting of her fate until, one day, a new inmate arrives. Anna’s life is thrown into chaos. But is she brave enough to believe this mysterious boy?

A tense and utterly compelling story about a society behind a wall, and the way in which two young people seize the chance to break free.

The Declaration is the first book in the startlingly gripping dystopian trilogy. I was hooked from the beginning and I can't believe I hadn't read this sooner! Make sure you read this trilogy if you want to experience a unique dystopia world that is easy to fall into but hard to escape from.

The novel is set in the future in the UK where a drug called 'Longevity' has been created to stop ageing. Since everyone is not ageing, the society can not handle a population growth, which means all of the Surpluses, illegal children born, have to be sent to a Surplus Hall, where they learn to be useful to a world that they shouldn't have been born into. Anna has been living in Surplus Hall since she was young, believing that she was put in there for the selfish act her parent commented in having her. But when a new boy arrives and claims to know her parents and the world outside, she doesn't know whether to believe him or stay away.

The Declaration was an exciting read that I didn't want to put down. The premise was extremely interesting and unique. My dystopian loving friends, this book is very well written with surprises and a cute romance to go with it, and everything you could want in an awesome book. Who wouldn't want to read about two teenagers trying to escape and find the truth in a world full of lies and ruled by a pill that will make you live forever?

At first, I had a hard time trying to connect with the main character, Anna, who wouldn't open her eyes, or mind, to anything that Peter, the new boy at Surplus hall, was trying to tell her. I did feel frustrated at times with her indecisive personality and I really wanted to hit her head with a stick and knock some sense into her. As for Peter, I fell in love with his shy and boyish charm from the beginning! He is lovely character that I would love to meet in real life.  

There were plenty of mysteries to solve and characters to learn about. I could not put the book down once I really got into it. The Declaration ended brilliantly, and I can tell that the sequel, The Resistance, is going to be even better! A series full of action, mystery and romance, how could you possibly resist?

Rating

A review copy was provided by the publisher

Waiting on Wednesday (163)

Hey,

This week I'm waiting for...

Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer 

Release Date: November 10, 2015

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

This is the final book in the Lunar Chronicles and I need to tell you all now in case you don't know that... THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SERIES EVER! I also featured this book in my Books I'm So Excited For I Can't Even Breathe post. So I'm pretty pumped. It's going to be amazing and if you haven't read the books yet I would strongly recommend that you check them out.

Reviews: Cinder (#1), Scarlet (#2), Cress (#3)

Leave a link to your WoW post in the comments below so I can check it out!

Have a good week,
Sam :D

My review of The Stars Never Rise

The Stars Never Rise (Untitled #1) by Rachel Vincent
Release Date: June 18, 2015
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon | The Book Depository

In the town of New Temperance, souls are in short supply and Nina should be worrying about protecting hers. Yet she’s too busy trying to keep her sister Mellie safe.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their existence, she’ll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal church.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a mysterious fugitive who has already saved her life once. Wanted by the church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she needs Finn and his group of rogue friends.

But what do they need from her in return?

I devoured The Stars Never Rise in a matter of hours! I quickly fell into Vincent's writing style that I grew to love in her Soul Screamers series and I simply did not want to put this book down. This book is about demons and how they possess humans and slowly devour their soul set in a world where souls are running out for new lives. This world is also run by The Unified Church who punish and make examples of those who don't fit the rules that they set. To have a world run by religion was a very interesting concept. In no way was this book preaching religion at all, it simply added to the plot of the story, which I loved.

Nina is the protagonist of the story and I found her an enjoyable character to read about. She's another badass female character that just grows on you very quickly. Nina is practically the parent in her family; her dad is no where around and her mother is a drug addict that hardly cares what her two daughters gets up to. Nina has to care for her sister Mellie, but when it comes to light that her sister has heavily gone against the rules set by the church, neither one of the sisters are safe. That is when Finn is introduced. Gah, Finn. 

I'll put it out there now that there is not enough in the book to fully fall in love with the character of Finn but you can see that there is so much potential for him. He and Nina instantly click and they made me laugh more times that I can count. Finn is a complex character with aspects that you unravel quite earlier on in the book but I don't want to ruin anything so I will keep it all hushhush.

I did love the paranormal excitement that The Stars Never Rise had to offer, I only hope that the next book delves into the characters and their relationships a bit more. I'm craving some Finn time. This book could still be perceived as a good start to the series. The Soul Screamers series got better and better with every book so I'm predicting for that to happen here too.

Rating

Book Haul (#105)

Hey,

I hope you've all had a great week! I certainly have, I've managed to find such great books and I am completely PUMPED!

This week I bought, received and borrowed:

Origin (Corpus #1) by Jessica Khoury - Bought - 
This was £1 in the pound shop. I could not even believe my eyes! It's a US hardback as well so this was basically one dollar-ish. Crazycrazycrazy. I can't wait to read this it's about genetic modification 
The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg - Bought - 
This was also in the pound shop and it is also a US hardback. Talk about lucky finds! I've actually already read this, maybe two years back but I'd love to refresh my mind. It's about a girl who had her heart broken and her heart literally broke so she died. Lovely. 

Life and Laughing by Michael McIntyre - Bought -
I don't usually read autobiographies but Michael McIntyre is one of my favourite comedians ever and I knew I had to read this at some point. I'm a few chapters in and it's absolutely hilarious. 
The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3) by Michelle Hodkin - Borrowed -
It has been 3 long years of waiting for this book and I can't believe I've waited so long since the release date to pick this up. I think I was probably scared because I honestly don't remember all that much about the first two books The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and The Evolution of Mara Dyer, but I do remember loving them immensely! I may need to give them a quick read to refresh my memory because I am very excited to see how it will all end.

Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger - Received -
Thank you Hachette Children's Books! I've loved all of the books in this Hamilton High series and I know that I will slowly fall for this one as well. I'm looking forward to the appearances of previous characters.

Leave a link to your Book Haul/Letterbox Love/In My Mailbox/Showcase Sunday/Stacking the Shelves in the comments below so I can check it out!

Enjoy all your books,
Sam :)

Waiting on Wednesday (162)

Hey,

This week I'm waiting for...

Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick
Release Date: November 10, 2015
Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.


As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks… 

Becca Fitzpatrick is a really good author and she hasn't written anything yet that I haven't enjoyed. I loved her thriller Black Ice so I know that I am going to enjoy this one also. Definitely check out her Hush, Hush series if you want a gripping paranormal story to read!

Leave a link to your WoW post in the comments below so I can check it out!

Have a good week,
Sam :D

My review of Echo Boy

Echo Boy by Matt Haig
Release Date: March 26, 2015 
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon | The Book Depository

Audrey's father taught her that to stay human in the modern world, she had to build a moat around herself; a moat of books and music, philosophy and dreams. A moat that makes Audrey different from the echoes: sophisticated, emotionless machines, built to resemble humans and to work for human masters. Daniel is an echo - but he's not like the others. He feels a connection with Audrey; a feeling Daniel knows he was never designed to have, and cannot explain. And when Audrey is placed in terrible danger, he's determined to save her. The Echo Boy is a powerful story about love, loss and what makes us truly human. 

Echo Boy is a fascinating and intriguing read that will challenge you to think about the extent at which we should use artificial intelligence. I enjoyed the split point of views of both Audrey, a teenage girl who's just had her parents murdered by an echo (a robot), and Daniel, an echo who can feel and experience the world like no other echo can. Both of them are used to explore the magnificent world of technology as well as to find answers to what really happened to Audrey's parents.

The storyline will hook you in as secrets begin to unravel quite early on in the book and continue to throughout. This sci-fi read felt refreshing and delivered such a unique world that was so exciting to explore. I've never come across a book like it! There's actually a TV show on Channel 4 (in the UK) called Humans that this reminded me a lot of. So if you can you should definitely check out the programme because it's really similar to the book in how robots are used everywhere in society and there are some exceptions where the human-like robots have been able to feel and this can threaten the human race entirely. Well now that I think about it the overall concept of the show and the book are the same really. 

I'm actually quite sad that this is a standalone novel because I feel like there's so much more that could be expanded and explained, however I'll try to be happy with where it all ended. 

Echo Boy will draw you in before you know it! I wasn't too keen on Audrey at the beginning but I was spurred on because I wanted, no NEEDED, my questions to be answered. Audrey's parents' death was a mystery that was so unusual and intriguing I had to find out more.The story eventually comes together and overall I loved what it had to offer. Don't skip this one if you love a good sci-fi.

Rating

Book Haul (#104)

Hey,

This week I received and borrowed:

The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent - Borrowed -
I adored Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series and I knew that I had to keep an eye out for more of her YA novels. I'm about 70 pages in and I'm hooked! 
Previous reviews: My Soul to Steal (Soul Screamers #4), If I Die (Soul Screamers #5), Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6), With All My Soul (Soul Screamers #7)
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson - Borrowed -
Jandy Nelson completely blew me away with The Sky is Everywhere when I read it years and years ago so I'm really glad she finally has another book out. It sounds like the perfect summer contemporary read.

The Edge of the Shadows (Whidbey Island Saga #3) by Elizabeth George - Received -
Thank you Hodder and Stoughton! I haven't heard of this series before but I read the blurb for this book and it sounded super intriguing so I may have to do some searching up for the first two books.

Leave a link to your Book Haul/Letterbox Love/In My Mailbox/Showcase Sunday/Stacking the Shelves in the comments below so I can check it out!

Enjoy all your books,
Sam :)

Waiting on Wednesday (161)

Hey,

This week I'm waiting for...

Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard

Release Date: January 5, 2016

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery”, a magical skill that sets them apart from others.

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Leave a link to your WoW post in the comments below so I can check it out!

Have a good week,
Sam :D

My review of A Little Something Different

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
Release Date: August 26, 2014

Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon | The Book Depository

The creative writing teacher, the delivery guy, the local Starbucks baristas, his best friend, her roommate, and the squirrel in the park all have one thing in common—they believe that Gabe and Lea should get together. Lea and Gabe are in the same creative writing class. They get the same pop culture references, order the same Chinese food, and hang out in the same places. Unfortunately, Lea is reserved, Gabe has issues, and despite their initial mutual crush, it looks like they are never going to work things out.  But somehow even when nothing is going on, something is happening between them, and everyone can see it. Their creative writing teacher pushes them together. The baristas at Starbucks watch their relationship like a TV show. Their bus driver tells his wife about them. The waitress at the diner automatically seats them together. Even the squirrel who lives on the college green believes in their relationship. 

Surely Gabe and Lea will figure out that they are meant to be together....

When I was reading the blurb for this book all I could think was: doesn't this sound so weirdly amazing? I loved the idea of reading a love story that wasn't told from the actual people falling in love's point of view. I ended up reading this in one sitting on the plane from Spain to the UK and I can tell you now that I've never enjoyed a plane journey more! 

So the book is told from 14 points of view ranging from a class mate to a certain moany bench that made me laugh all the way through! It was really interesting to see the signs of people falling for each other from an outsider's perspective. A Little Something Different will make you laugh, smile, and root for two people to get together like you never have done before! This love story of Lea and Gabe was absolutely torturous because you can see their chemistry (the Starbucks' baristas can feel it from all the way across the room) and yet they tiptoe around each other so cautiously. This book will definitely inspire you to embrace your chances at love!

A Little Something Different is short, sweet and the perfect book for you to dip your toes into this summer if you want a contemporary novel that will endlessly make you smile. Yes, I did get frustrated with the main characters because they are both super shy, which didn't really make their romance advance at a very fast pace, but it all adds to the story's charm I guess. I would definitely recommend to try out this book if you want to try a love story with "something different" because I've never read anything like it!

Rating

Waiting on Wednesday (160)

Hey,

This week I'm waiting for...

Every Last Breath (The Dark Elements #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Release Date: August 1, 2015

Some loves will last ’til your dying breath

Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust.

Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from destruction.

Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight like hell… 

Jennifer L. Armentrout honestly kills me sometimes, you know? I feel like this trilogy has taken my breath away once again. I always expect to be drawn in more by the idea of the love story than the actual plot line but this story has honestly been able to keep me hooked all round. I love the gargoyles and the demons and it's just AHHHHH! I cannot wait for this book! Definitely leave your thoughts on whether Layla will go with Roth or Zayne because I'm seriously torn.

Previous reviews: White Hot Kiss (#1), Stone Cold Touch (#2)

Leave a link to your WoW post in the comments below so I can check it out!

Have a good week,
Sam :D