Top Ten Tuesday (2)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week the topic is Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying to Read. And so, in no particular order, my top books are;

1. Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer – Technically the third book, but still!

2. Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

3. Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

4. Loss by Jackie Morse Kessler – Another one that’s technically the third, but I still can’t wait!

5. Crossed by Ally Condie

6. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

7. Devoted by Hilary Duff

8. White Glove War by Katie Crouch

9. Thumped by Megan McCafferty

10. Seizure by Kathy Reichs

This was such an easy Top 10 to write. There are just so many books out there that I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

In My Mailbox (66)

Well, I only bought one book this week but there’s a reason for that. See, if I spent X amount of dollars at Shoppers I was able to get mega points and so I bought a book to get me up there.

The Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti

I’ve been eyeing this one for months and so I caved.

On a side note, I bought Nicole by O.P.I. drying drops for when I paint my fingernails. Holy crap these things are amazing!! They really work and they work fast!

I was able to download my waiting titles from NetGalley and I got;

The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski

DANCERGIRL by Carol M. Tanzman

Ditched by Robin Mellom

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison

If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe

So this is what I got in my mailbox this week! Leave me a line and let me know what you got in yours!

As always, check out The Story Siren for more IMM fun and info!

RAK August Wrap-up and September's Beginning

Ok, technically through the RAK channels I didn't receive anything BUT I did have some random acts of kindness, so I'm counting them since they were random and they were incredible acts of kindness!

So, turns out I have a local fellow book blogger - NotNessie from Today's Adventure - and we were able to get together and have a book swap. I got a WHOLE lot of books from her so here are the top highlights;

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (ARC)

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead (ARC)

Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer (ARC) - Yes, I bought my own hardcover version when it first came out but I really love the ARC cover!

For the rest of the amazingness that is NotNessie, check out my IMM here where they're all listed with pictures!


Then, Sara from Just Another Story was AMAZING as well and sent me her extra ARCs of Witchlanders by Lena Coakley and Fury by Elizabeth Miles.

In return, (I really need to keep better trac of what I send out) I sent Sara an ARC of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater and Kate from The Book Monsters I sent out a sample chapter of The Death Cure by James Dashner along with some little buttons and bookish stuff!



I can't wait for September's RAK and what it will bring!


For my Wishlist, visit my post here!

Deal With the Devil

The Mephisto Covenant

Written by: Trinity Faegen

Released: September 27, 2011 by EgmontUSA

Summary: Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—Sasha is Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx looming, Jax has to keep Sasha safe and win her over. But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?

Let me start off by saying that I really enjoyed reading this novel. It sucked me in from the very beginning and I hated putting it down (like while I was at work and probably shouldn’t have been reading for so long...), but something is bothering me about the story. I also feel as though – and in no way is this a negative thing – that this is something that I could have easily read on fictionpress.com. In fact, change the hell spawn to either vampires or werewolves and I’m pretty sure I have. Don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely amazing novels posted at fictionpress.com and this would have become a favourite, but I guess it’s weird, with the intense connection I mentally made between the site and this novel, to see this being published. Which doesn’t make any sense since there are several amazing authors who were first on fictionpress.com and are now either published or about to be published.

At this point I’m so confused about it myself that I’m not even sure if I’m being coherent at this point. So on to the actual review.

Ok, as I stated above before babbling on, I really enjoyed this novel. As soon as I started reading it I didn’t want to put it down and I needed to know what would happen. I love it when a book can sink its hooks into me from page one and keep my eyes glued to the page until the very end and while I’m greatly looking forward to the next novel, I can’t help but think that this could have been condensed into one longer novel. Of course, that could also just be my insane want for the next so that I can find out what happens next. The ending was pretty well done, but there were enough loose ends left that I still have many questions left unanswered.

Normally, I don’t care much for Angel/Devil novels but this one is definitely an exception. In fact, this is how I think Angel Burn should have been with the whole “child of an ‘evil’ one” and “guy saving girl from dark forces” not to mention the general story, characters, and pacing. This definitely was a novel that did the whole religion inspired plot very well – at least I thought so. I liked the spin on the whole thing (I don’t want to give too much away), especially how it blurred the lines of what was good and evil and how far someone would go to save a loved one.

If you’re looking for this spectacular read with in-depth characters and a super-involved intellectual plot... yeah this probably wouldn’t be the novel for you. What I liked about it was how simple it was – which is a whole part of the fictionpress.com similarity – and how easy a read it was. I liked how I didn’t have to really think while reading and it offered this great escape from the drudgery of my busy schedule. There’s also a sex scene near the end (and not like the crap-tacular one in Breaking Dawn), so if that’s not something you want to read, give this a pass maybe.

I’m giving this novel an 8/10 and I can’t wait for the next.




Many thanks to NetGalley and Egmont for allowing me to read an E-galley of this novel!

A Simple Ball of Yarn

Dark of the Moon


Written by: Tracy Barrett

Released: September 19, 2011 by Harcourt Children’s Books

Summary: Ariadne is destined to become a goddess of the moon. She leads a lonely life, finding companionship only with her beloved, misshapen brother Asterion, who must be held captive below the palace for his own safety.

Then a ship arrives bearing a tribute of slaves from Athens, and Ariadne meets Theseus, the son of the king of Athens. Ariadne finds herself drawn to the newcomer, and soon they form a friendship—one that could perhaps become something more.

But Theseus is doomed to die as an offering to the minotaur, that monster beneath the palace—unless he can kill the beast first. And that "monster" is Ariadne’s brother . . .

I know that this story is base on the ancient myth about the minotaur and the labyrinth, but I have to confess that that’s about everything that I knew about the legend. Well, that and that there was a ball of string involved. So I went into reading this novel not fully knowing what was going to happen and having no clue what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome, though.

This novel alternated between Ariadne and Theseus’ perspectives, which really made it easy to follow the “love story” aspect and everything else that happens. Normally I’m not too keen on the alternating perspectives, but it really works for this novel, so I really didn’t give it a second thought. It also was interesting to read about how minor details can completely change a person’s perspective on something that happens... but I don’t want to give anything away.

I was catapulted into the world that this story encompasses and it was hard to put down my e-reader. I’m pretty sure that I read this novel in just about one sitting (one afternoon at least) simply because I needed to know what was going on and what was going to happen to the characters. It was also just this fascinating read and knowing that it was also based upon an old legend, it makes me really want to look further into the origins. But the way that the story unfolded on the page, I can easily see it being how it actually could have been before it was misconstrued and details were either elaborated or changed to make for a better story; it was logical while still being mythical.

I loved the characters that this novel introduced. Aside from Ariadne and Theseus, the secondary characters really added something else to the story and they kept you guessing. Unfortunately, my loan of the eARC has expired, so I can’t name names, but if you get a chance to read the novel, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

In short, I enjoyed reading this novel. It may not have been what I would normally pick up, but it was a nice change and very interesting. I’m giving it a 7/10.



My thanks to netGalley and Harcourt for allowing me to read an eARC of this novel.