29th[BOOK TOUR] Fall From Love by Heather London

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 943 KB
• Print Length: 330 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• Struggling to put her life back together after a tragic mountaineering accident kills her college sweetheart, twenty-one-year-old Holly Treadwell is trying to set aside her grief, forge ahead in school, and find herself again.
• When Carter Hansen, a guy who brings back horrible memories from the night of the accident, finds his way back into her life, Holly’s unsure if she should let him in. He terrifies her in more ways than one and invokes feelings in her that she thought were buried forever. Regardless of her fears, she knows she must face him in order for her heart to heal.
• Everyone tells Carter that what happened on the mountain that night was just a terrible accident, but even then, he can’t help but carry around the guilt and is unable to forgive himself. He’s drawn to Holly and being near her helps ease his conscience and gives him the release he needs.

As Holly and Carter’s relationship grows, they begin to realize that the more time they spend with one another, the more their wounds begin to heal—her grief and his guilt. But when Holly learns the details about the night of the accident—what everyone has been keeping from her—it will rip open old wounds and tear apart what they’ve both worked so hard to overcome…

Cover:  Really like the colours on this cover.

As you guys know, I've been loving New Adult Contemporary reads, so when I heard about this one, I knew I wanted to give it a read.

And I definitely enjoyed it.

It's a novel about love, loss, and life.  Learning to love and feel again after tragedy.

I loved the premise of the plot and generally how everything went down.

The only issues I had with it were that it wasn't very gripping- there was no point that I was totally hooked and couldn't put it down.

The other being that I didn't feel any of the supposed chemistry between Holly and Carter.  Literally nothing.  There have been couples that I've read where the chemistry practically sets the pages on fire- but this one left them stone cold for me.

Over all I did enjoy it, and would recommend giving it a try!

3/5 stars.

Book Haul/In My Mailbox 29/6/13

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week.

Inspired by a conversation with a coworker the other day:

It’s time for summer reading, so … today’s question? What’s the worst thing you ever did to your reading material? Sand in the bindings from the beach? Dropped into the pool? Covers smeared with sunscreen?

And, if you’ve never done actual summer-time damage … have you EVER damaged your book/magazine/paper? Dropped it in the bathtub? Used it to kill a bug? Spilled with coffee?

I've never damaged a book in any of the ways listed above.  I'm pretty OCD about the condition my books are in.  As not only an avid reader but collector of books, I like them to stay pretty so try to avoid damage as much as possible.

I have of course broken spines on books- paperbacks that are inflexible it's inevitable.

But come to think of it, while reading one book, a chap on my finger decided to spontaneously bleed and I got a smidgen of blood on one of the pages.  

Oh and once I got some nail varnish on a cover but some remover saved it.

That's all I can think of damage wise.

A Stitch In Time by Amanda James

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Choc Lit (7 April 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1781890005

A stitch in time saves nine… or does it? Sarah Yates is a thirty something history teacher, divorced, disillusioned and desperate to have more excitement in her life. Making all her dreams come true seems about as likely as climbing Everest in stilettos.

Then one evening the door bell rings and the handsome and mysterious John Needler brings more excitement than Sarah could ever have imagined. John wants Sarah to go back in time…

Sarah is whisked from the Sheffield Blitz to the suffragette movement in London to the Old American West, trying to make sure people find their happy endings. The only question is, will she ever be able to find hers?

Cover:  I really like this cute, bright and relevant cover.

This is such a sweet and quirky book. 
Sarah is getting over a cheating husband, a terrible best friend and trying to cope with being a teacher.  Then a handsome man turns up on her doorstep saying that she's a 'stitch' that will travel back in time to repair damage done to it- saving lives.
Naturally she thinks he's a crackpot.
But what if he's not?
Sarah finds herself travelling to the Blitz, Suffragette Movement and the planes of the Old West- that's what.
I loved the premise of time being damaged and people were needed to repair it and make sure that people and discoveries were saved.  I feel the qualities needed for a 'stitch' were skimmed over.  I didn't feel the time-travel element was explained as well as it could have been.  I found myself confused, needing to reread sections, and still not much the wiser.
The 'Powers That Be' that arrange the travel- we literally learn nothing about them other than they communicate to John through email.  That's it.  So much remains unsolved.
The romance element between John and Sarah was sweet, but happened all of a sudden.  I feel it needed more build up and development.
Sarah is a great heroine that the reader will really get behind and root for.
This book is full of tongue in cheek, very British humour, so I definitely recommend as a light, fun, quick beach read!  I finished it in just two days.
4/5 stars.

Never Too Far by Abbi Glines

Paperback: 304 pages

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (14 Mar 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1482749963
• ISBN-13: 978-1482749960
• He had held a secret that destroyed her world. 
  
  Everything she had known was no longer true. 
  
  Blaire couldn’t stop loving him but she knew she could never forgive him.
  Now, she was back home and learning to live again. Moving on with life… until something happened to send her world spinning once again. 
  What do you do when the one person you can never trust again is the one that you need to trust so desperately? 
  
  You lie, hide, avoid, and pray that your sins never find you out.

Cover: Again, I like the colour schemes for these booka but this cover doesn't grab me as much as I loved the first one.

After finishing up book one I needed to jump into book 2 straight away.  I loved Fallen Too Far but the end left me reeling, so I needed it resolved.

I loved this one just as much.

Seeing Blaire and Rush trying to fix things that went so wrong at the end of book 1 was just soooo good.  Blaire had to learn to forgive Rush. 

I said in my review of Fallen Too Far that I wished that we had Rush's point of view, and in this one we did!  I got my wish.  I was so happy that it was told in alternating chapter perspectives.  I just feel we get a much more well rounded story that way, and you connect to both main characters, instead of everything being one-sided.

I definitely fell even more in love with Rush in this book.  He was just so incredibly sweet, trying to win Blaire back, determined not to give up, and just so damn sexy.

My only issue with this book was the ending.  I just felt it was a little abrupt, and I just wanted more from it.  

The next book in the series will be focusing on different characters so I'm hoping that we will get to see more of Rush and Blaire and from their POV's.

Over all I've loved what I've read and have discovered a new favourite author.

4.5/5 stars.

[Book Tour] Fall For Me by K.A. Last

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 428 KB
• Print Length: 313 pages
• Publisher: K. A. Last; 1 edition (17 Jan 2013)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• “Angels aren’t supposed to fall in love, especially with each other. But for the record, you were worth it.”
  
  Grace Tate is a Protection Angel and Vampire Hunter, and she has always followed the rules. But some rules are made to be broken…
  
  Until now the fight against evil has been simple, and falling in love was never part of the plan. So what happens when it’s beyond Grace’s control, and when she least expects it she falls for the wrong person?
  
  All hell breaks loose, that’s what.
  
  At Hopetown Valley High, not everything is as it seems, and the one person Grace thought was her enemy becomes her most important ally.
  
  Blood will be shed, lives will be lost and friendships will be tested. It all comes down to one decision, and when Grace tries to save all those dear to her, she realises not everyone can be—or wants to be—saved.
• Cover: Love the simplicity and colour of the covers for both books.

I really enjoy books about angels, and vampires.  So a book combining the two was definitely intriguing to me.  Angels providing protection and aid in vampire hunting sounded awesome.

This book definitely started strong for me.  I liked the lore and premise, I liked that it was a brother/sister fighting duo.

But the romance aspect let it down for me.  I'm not a fan of insta-love, and this had a bad case of it.  I didn't believe that an experienced, you'd think wise, angel- would risk 'falling' after chatting to a guy for a couple of days.  Especially is that angel didn't even fall to follow her supposed best friend.  It wasn't believable to me.

Then after that, we then get a love triangle.  Another pet hate.  It was so frustrating.  Grace just came off as weak and indecisive.

Josh, a human boy.  I just didn't find him swoon worthy.

Seth.  I loved his character and wished we had his perspective.

Over all I enjoyed this one and do recommend it for paranormal fans.

3/5 stars.

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 225 KB
• Print Length: 115 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0987384937
• Publisher: K. A. Last (24 May 2013)

Sacrifice is a 23,000 word prequel to Fall For Me. It tells the story of Grace and Seth, and what happened in that castle. It is meant to be read after Fall For Me, although it can be read first...


Seth’s heart is breaking. He knows his decision will hurt the one person he keeps breathing for, but he can’t take it anymore. He can’t be near Grace knowing she will always be just out of reach.

Grace is oblivious to Seth’s turmoil. She loves him unconditionally, but not in the way he wants. They both know that in Heaven physical love is forbidden, and to break the rules is to defy everything they’ve ever been taught.

When Grace and Seth are sent on a mission to save a young mother and her unborn child, Grace must face the fact that Seth won’t be returning home. She doesn’t understand Seth’s decision and hates him for it. But what neither of them realise is how big a part that single decision will play in shaping their entire future.

What would you sacrifice for the one you love?

Now this little prequel I enjoyed a lot more than Fall For Me.  I found Seth and Grace's history to be far more interesting and compelling than the love triangle that we get in Fall For Me.  Understanding Seth and the reason he fell was great- especially as we got his perspective that I was wanting.

This has definitely made me want to continue the series!

3.5/stars.

• 
  

The Numbers TAG

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week.

And, the reverse–which actors have been particularly badly cast in roles of characters you first met in the pages of a book? Do you blame the actors or the writers and other film-people for the failure? Who would you have cast instead?

When I first read this question I didn't think I had an answer, but I pondered it for a while and came up with a couple.
Kiera Knightly as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice.  No.  Just.  No.

Then in the movie adaptation of The Lucky one by Nicholas Sparks.  I felt that the couple looked wrong, they either needed a woman that looked slightly younger to match Zac Efron, or cast an older guy.  



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[BOOK BLITZ] Eversea by Natasha Boyd

Once again I'm late in posting this but am hoping to make it up by getting an actual review of this up soon!!  This is one that sounds amazing and I can't wait to read!

Eversea, a love story, is a Winter Rose Contest FINALIST 2013. Emilia Pisani of Simon & Schuster (judge) says "Great southern flavor!" and "Jack is an alluring leading man!"

An orphaned, small-town, southern girl, held hostage by responsibility and self-doubt.

A Hollywood A-list mega-star, on the run from his latest scandal and with everything to lose. 

A chance encounter that leads to an unlikely arrangement and epic love affair that will change them both forever. 

When his co-star and real-life girlfriend is caught cheating on him with her married and much older director, A-list hottie, Jack Eversea, finds himself in sleepy Butler Cove, South Carolina. Jack hopes the sultry southern heat in this tiny coastal Lowcountry town will hide him not only from the tabloids and his cheating girlfriend, but his increasingly vapid life and the people who run it. He doesn’t count on meeting Keri Ann Butler. 

Keri Ann has relied on herself so long, dealing with her family’s death and the responsibilities of keeping up her family's historic mansion, that boys and certainly the meager offering of eligible boys in Butler Cove, have never figured into her equation. But fate has other plans. Suddenly face to face with the man who played the movie role of her favorite fictional character, Jack has Keri Ann yearning for everything she has previously avoided ... and Jack must decide whether this funny, sassy girl is worth changing his life for, before his mistakes catch up to him.

Teaser Pic

Teasers and Quotes:


1.
“Jack wasn’t just a boy. He was a dazzling, heart-stopping, aura of a man who in just five days had me feeling like I was perched on the edge of a precipice, and seriously contemplating throwing myself over the edge. The idea was terrifying in its finality and in its inevitability.”


2.
“I wanted Jack to kiss me, I wanted his lips on mine, I wanted to know what he tasted like, what his tongue felt like, what his mouth would do when fused with mine. Whether he kissed fast or slow, hard or soft. If he was hot or cool. It suddenly became imperative to know that beyond anything else.”


3.
Jack stepped toward me. If it was possible, he suddenly looked predatory.
Pressing my back further against the cool wall at his approach, I held my breath as he planted his palms flat against the wall behind me, his body hovering a scant inch from mine and his head ducking straight down to my neck.
“I’m glad we have our reasons laid out, Keri Ann,” he said quietly, breathing his words into my ear in a torrent of snapping electricity. “But that doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen.”
My stomach flipped over, and my breath whooshed out into a deep and embarrassing pant. Placing my hands against his hard chest, I pushed him away to arms length. “Wow, did anyone ever tell you how arrogant you are?”
“Not arrogant. Confident. There’s a difference.”



4.
Jazz grabbed a poker from the fireplace, and we both skidded on sock feet to the front door. I looked out of the peephole, but with no lights on I couldn’t really see a thing.
“I can’t see anything,” I whispered, and then jumped back as another round of banging started.
“Keri Ann?” Jack’s voice shouted over the wind and rain.
“Oh my God.” I mouthed to Jazz.
Her eyes were wide.
“Do you think he got my message?”
“Shit, I don’t know,” she whispered back, her shoulders hunching up.
“Keri Ann? Please ... please open the door. I really need to talk to you.”
What the heck was he doing out there in the rain? Obviously, I was going to have to let him in. I could feel mortification and it’s crimson tide crawling up my chest to my neck.
Jazz shrugged with an apologetic ‘this is your mess, I have no clue how to help you here’ look on her face.
“Thanks!” I hissed at her.
“Keri Ann! Open the Goddamn door ... please?” Jack’s voice broke over the last word and my shoulders slumped.
Jazz rolled her eyes.
I opened the door as a huge gust of wind blew in and wrenched it out of my hands. It swung back hard banging against the wall. And there stood the tall looming shadow of Jack, hands on either side of the doorframe, in jeans and a dark wet t-shirt that clung to his body. Water streamed down his beautiful face.
“For the love of shrimp n’ grits, girl,” I heard Jazz murmur next to me as we both took in the archangel standing on the threshold. “Good luck.”
I shivered.

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Mira Ink (7 Jun 2013) Language: English ISBN-10: 1848452284 ISBN-13: 978-1848452282

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

Cover:  I love the image on this cover- as we know I'm a sucker for cutesy, romantic covers.  But I'm not such a fan of the red.  I prefer the blue on the US cover.  Really want a US edition.

Pushing The Limits was one of my favourite reads of 2012, so naturally Dare You To is one of my most eagerly releases of 2013.
Beth was a difficult character to like in Pushing The Limits, she comes across as a bitch for bitches sake, but actually we in Dare You To we see that it's a defense mechanism.  Beth has been hurt and let down repeatedly and subsequently finds it hard to trust and love people- instead acting like a hard ass.  You really grow to love her and understand her.
Ryan was interesting too.  I really thought I'd find it hard to root for them as a couple because I love Isaiah.  But I freaking loved Ryan too!
He's a jock.  Automatically Beth hates him.  They're complete opposites.
Ryan loves baseball, but he may just be good enough to be a writer.  At least his teacher thinks so.  He's always just wanted to play pro ball but winning a writing competition gives him choices.  Also...his family life may not be as perfect as it projects.
While Beth and Ryan should be opposites...there are also similarities, and a fierce attraction that can't be ignored.
Katie McGarry tackles realistic issues but also creates a beautiful romance that results in an un-put-downable read, that had me hooked from beginning to end.  I love alternating character perspectives in YA contemporaries and Katie McGarry is one of the best at it!
I think that Pushing The Limits has the edge slightly.  It would take a lot to beat that one, but Dare You To was amazing too!  And I just can't wait for Isaiah's book.  I need that!!!
This is a must-read! 
5/5 stars.

Alas I also made a video review!

In Too Deep by Michelle Kemper Brownlow [BOOK TOUR~ Excerpt]

Gracie has just finished her freshman year of college in Memphis when she takes a job at a local pizza joint in her home town of McKenzie, Tennessee. She is the epitome of innocence when she meets Noah. Noah is unabashedly handsome, intriguingly reckless and just cocky enough to be sexy. Gracie’s instincts tell her to stay far away from him and based on the stories she hears from her co-workers he leaves broken hearts in his wake. But still, she can’t explain her fascination with him.

Noah puts aside his bad boy ways when what he thought was a summer crush has him unexpectedly falling in love. But soon after Gracie transfers to UT Knoxville to be with Noah, their unexpected love becomes riddled with anger, deceit and humiliation.

Jake, Noah’s former roommate and Gracie’s best friend, can no longer be a bystander. Gracie’s world falls out from beneath her and when she breaks she turns to Jake for strength. As Jake talks her through a decision she’s not yet strong enough to make, together they uncover a truth so ugly neither of them is prepared for its fallout. Will Jake pull her to the surface or is Gracie Jordan finally In Too Deep?

Excerpt

The strong force of the wave pulled me under. I gasped for air just before my face disappeared below the surface. My body rolled over and over, my arms flailed, and my head pounded into the sea bed which felt like a concrete floor. The salty water stung my eyes. I forced myself to keep them open, fearing I would slip into unconsciousness from the blow I took to the head. I knew I had to hold it together long enough for the swell to pull me back up when the wave rolled. But something was pulling me deeper. I fought with all my might, kicking against the thick water swallowing me whole. I used my arms like underwater oars and sliced through the depths trying to reach what I needed most, but I was in too deep.
“Get out!” I could barely get the words out before I had to run to the bathroom and void my gut of its contents. Noah didn’t move.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and screamed, “I said, Get! Out!” I stumbled back into the room, grabbed the box of mementos I’d collected from the last year of our relationship, and dumped everything into the trashcan in the corner. Like a communal grave, there lay movie tickets, dried rose petals, a strip of photos from the boardwalk, all the beautiful letters he wrote last fall semester, an empty beer bottle, and all the rest of what was now just a reminder of the guy I thought I knew.
“Gracie, don’t…” His face fell, but he didn’t move from the edge of my bed.
“Don’t? Don’t what, Noah? Don’t break up with you? Are you kidding?” My ears burned from his admission of guilt. It hit me broadside. I wasn’t prepared for the words he had spoken just moments before.
The rush of water covering me grew cold. Icy. My body quaked. My lungs burned and begged for air. I could see light above. It glimmered and danced on the small waves my panic created. I reached for the surface. Even if I couldn’t pull myself up, maybe just feeling the sun’s warmth would stop the shivering that threatened to unravel me.
My legs gave out beneath me and I crumbled into a heap on my apartment floor. I sobbed so uncontrollably I gasped for air. I was livid. Repulsed. Crushed and torn. Noah was the love of my life, and things were just getting back to the way I longed for them to be. Back to what used to be our “normal.” Before he pledged Sigma Chi. Our relationship hadn’t been easy since I transferred to Knoxville. But our story wasn’t ready to end.
It went something like this:
Bad boy meets good girl.
First kiss.
Bad boy turns sensitive.
Love.
Good girl gives sensitive boy all of her.
Long distance.
Flowers. Love letters.
Long, sweet phone calls.
Good girl transfers to sensitive boy’s school.
Sensitive boy becomes fraternity boy.
Drunken social events.
Secrets revealed.
Fraternity boy pulls good girl under.

Good girl finds herself in too deep.

The First Sentences TAG

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week.

And while we’re thinking about books converted to tv/movies. Do you ever sit and wonder who could be cast as your favorite characters? (Please feel free to give examples!)

What actors do you think have done particularly excellent jobs with some of your favorite characters?

I don't very often think of who I want to play characters.  Often as I'm reading I'm just picturing the character themselves, not of potential actors.

The exception to this rule is when I was reading Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments (I'm talking the first three books), I pictured Alex Pettyfer as Jace Wayland.  Everything about him was perfect for the character.

And they didn't cast him anyway.

So obviously my thoughts on actors aren't a great judge anyhow.

Saved by Kelly Elliot

Paperback: 534 pages

• Publisher: Kelly Elliott (4 April 2013)
• ISBN-10: 0988707454
• ISBN-13: 978-0988707450
• New Adult
• (Wanted series #2)
• Arianna and Jefferson’s love is true but will it be enough? 
  
  Ari who comes from a loving home with a family who has had more than their share of difficulties, is faced with possibly losing the love of her life. All she dreams of is growing old and having children with Jeff, but a family history and a conniving Rebecca could shatter that dream. Trying to support Jeff and cope with all the truths and possibilities of her own destiny may prove to be more than one person can handle.
  
  Jeff’s dream is to raise horses on his ranch in Mason with the only women who has ever filled his heart and soul. But he’s running the risk of losing her by trying to be the man he knows he should be by taking on his responsibilities. He’s completely bewitched by the passionate and always outspoken Ari, but needs to do right for the child that could possibly be his.
  
  Despite all the odds stacked against them can their relationship be…..SAVED?
• Cover: I like that the colour/theme matches the first one, but I'm just not as keen on this cover as much as Wanted's cover.  

After reading Wanted earlier this year, and really enjoying it, I was really looking forward to Saved.  Saved is Ari and Jeff's story.  We're first introduced to them in Wanted and their story develops in this one, I was really pleased that we still got to see Ellie and Gunner from Book 1, and that we got to see Josh and Heather interact really, that we haven't before.

I was worried with this one, as in Wanted, Jeff and Ari kind of pissed me off.  There's no other way to put it.  Ari's constant stream of swearing for no reason didn't make me warm to her, and Jeff was just an insensitive ass that was the source of many of my pet peeves in book 1.

However they seemed to tone down in Saved, and I actually really grew to like them as protagonists.  Even though Jeff is still an idiot for pretty much the first 50% of the book.

I loved Josh and Heather but the constant get-close-then-pull-back on Heather's side really annoyed me.  It got so repetitive.  I want them to be together but their really starting to frustrate me.  I don't know if my heart can take their own book coming out later this year.

Considering this book was put back a few days for editing, I'm surprised at how many editing errors there were.  Simple stuff.
Plus I got really tired of every time they're in a club or a party or something, of them requesting and dancing to Christina Aguilera.  All. The. Time.

Over all I loved Saved, still had a few issues with it, but I was hooked.

4/5 stars.

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino

• Received for review
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (3 Jan 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847673015
• ISBN-13: 978-1847673015

In a place like no other, on an island in the shape of a tear drop, two sisters are born into a family of the oracle. Kamikuu, with creamy skin and almond eyes, is admired far and wide; Namima, small but headstrong, learns to live in her sister's shadow. On her sixth birthday, Kamikuu is presented with a feast of sea-serpent egg soup, sashimi and salted fish, and a string of pure pearls. Kamikuu has been chosen as the next Oracle, while Namima is shocked to discover she must serve the goddess of darkness. So begins an adventure that will take Namima from her first experience of love to the darkness of the underworld. But what happens when she returns to the island for revenge? Natsuo Kirino, the queen of Japanese crime fiction, turns her hand to an exquisitely dark tale based on the Japanese myth of Izanami and Izanagi. A fantastical, fabulous tour-de-force, it is a tale as old as the earth about ferocious love and bitter revenge.

Cover:  Even thought I'm not normally one for facial close ups on covers, I like this cover.

Even thought Natsuo Kirino is a renowned Japanese crime author- a genre which I don't normally read, the synopsis for her foray into retelling a Japanese creation story drew me in- a dark tale of two sisters destined to be opposites.
And Namima's story was definitely interesting.  Her sister will become the great oracle, adored by all, whilst Namima will be forced to live isolated, surrounded by the dead she is charged with guarding.
Namima was an extremely sympathetic characters and I liked her a lot.  I wish the story was solely about her and her struggle.  But about 100 pages in, we start to get the stories of the gods Izanami and Izanaki.  I don't know if something is lost in translation, but it was really dull.  The tales of love and betrayal should be filled with passion, the reader should be able to feel their story.  Instead I found it to be a rather tedious narrative, lacking in passion and would much rather the story be completely about Namima.
I was also left without of unresolved questions.
Over all the premise was there but the finish was just a little lacking for me.  Again, this might be through the translation to English, but it just missed the mark for me.
2/5 stars.

Book Haul/In My Mailbox 7/6/13

BOOK BLITZ: Snow White Sorrow by Cameron Jace

What if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?

Sixteen year old Loki Blackstar is no Prince Charming. His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that sings to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.

Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.

When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.

The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.

What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.

Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.


Excerpt from Snow White Blood Red


Dear Wilhelm Carl Grimm,


She is not that giddy, naïve, and helpless princess she pretends to be. Please don’t let her fool you with her innocence if you see her sing to the birds in the forest. Resist her charm from bringing joyful tears to your eyes, and shield yourself from her devious beauty before she deceives you into wanting to kiss her awake. It'll be a kiss of death. Your death. That’s how she fooled the Huntsman, Prince Charming, and me, her birth mother.
I still remember the original script of the fairy tale, the one you wrote in 1812. It clearly stated that she was my own flesh and blood daughter. I don’t have the slightest idea why you altered it fifty years later.
What was the point of turning me into an evil, narcissistic, and heartless stepmother, blinded by jealousy and envy of the young princess?
For years, I have been looking forward to telling you the truth about her, but you were impossible to reach.
I am glad I found your brother, Jacob. He told me that you wanted to tone the stories down so children could sleep better at night, instead of having nightmares about the Queen who sought to eat her daughter’s heart and liver.
Shame on you, Wilhelm.
You, of all authors, knew why I wanted to kill her. My actions were justified. I was trying to save my kingdom from her wrath, before everything we loved was destined to an end. The same way you had to rewrite the true fairytales after cursing us, so the War of Sorrows would end forever after.
Night after night, and year after year, parents fed their children false bedtime stories, until your lies grew into
inescapable memories. Your happily ever after lies, Wilhelm, shaped the so called fairy tale world.
I wondered why you didn’t burn the original scripts, instead of rewriting them. You must have figured out that sooner or later someone would dig up the truth and expose you. Altering it was the smarter solution. You let children believe that the bites were resurrecting kisses, and that torturing glass coffins were made for sleeping beauties, waiting for a prince to come and kiss them awake.
A wise man once said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he was someone else. You did the same with us, Wilhelm. You turned us into pastiches of the immortals that we really are, and made it harder for us if wanted to persuade the world otherwise.
I know that you did it to save us from her. And I appreciate how you concealed our real names, or we would have ended up like Rumpelstiltskin, tortured by those who knew of his real name.
But sometimes, I can’t help but wonder why no one ever questioned why I was called the Evil Queen, and why I was never given a real name in the books.
Was I so superficial to the world, so stereotypical and mundane? Why was I treated as if I were the monster of the week?
You know what I think? I think that the world never got the time to hate me. It just wanted to hate me long before it met me.
If I tell those who detest me about the true nature of their little princess, would they ever care about me half as much as they care about her?
I know that deep inside, they adore me. They like the way I talk, walk, dress, and even the way I kill.
They are just afraid to admit how much they love me. I am the Snow White Queen, strong enough that I don’t need anyone’s
pity or love, because I am loved by the greatest and most majestic heart in the world:
Mine.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday and a different question is posted every week.

What makes you choose the books you read?
Genre? Reviews? Certain authors? Covers? Recommendations?

A mixture of all of the above really.  I have my favourite authors where all they have to do is release a new book and I'm sold.
As part of the book blogging and vlogging community I see tons of reviews for books that I might not ordinarily have come across, and they catch my interest so I get them.
I wouldn't say I ever buy a book just based on the cover alone, but when you're book browsing that's the first thing that catches your attention, and with such a myriad of stunning covers out there of course I'm a sucker for them and if it has a nice cover, I'm halfway to buying it, if it's in my favourite genres (e.g YA paranormal romance, YA/NA contemporaries) then I'm in.