The Selection by Kiera Cass

Goodreads Blurb

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

I got this ARC in the mail in a blogger trade and I absolutely loved every minute I spent reading it! The blurb, cover, writing, plot, well it all equates into one of the best books of 2012!

What the blurb above does not mention, however, is that before America Singer (add an n at the end of her name. She even sings all the time!) heads off to the castle, Aspen breaks her heart. Of course, he didn't mean to, but he feels guilty that he can't provide for her, that she's providing food for him when it should be the other way around. Oh, Aspen. But that's when my opinion of him went down. I mean, he didn't exactly try to make things work. He. Gave. Up. I'm sorry Aspen, but you should've tried harder if you really loved her.

On the other hand, America is most likely one of my favorite heroines. She wasn't especially different in any way. She cried over Aspen, but not pathetically so, and stood tall 'n proud when she was leaving. Not every normal girl can do that. Especially not when she's about to (unwillingly) compete for the heart of a Prince. She was a character that many of us girls (and some guys) can relate to. America is definitely one of my favorite characters in The Selection.

Onto the writing. The writing was wonderful, descriptive where it needed to be, and vague where it should've been. We, at least I, could feel America's sorrow and her hesitance. I could imagine Celeste's angry face and her nails ripping at the dress. It was dramatic and funny, witty and smart and I adored reading about everything that was going on! However, the dialogue was cheesy and very, very cliche. Sometimes I just stared and the phrase "She said that? You're kidding me! She actually said that!"

The Selection has been called "The Bachelor meets the Hunger Games" and I think that's true. Many of the things that happened did, in fact, happen in the last season of "The Bachelor" and yes, I do watch that show. Celeste? Courtney. Maxon? Whatever his name is (Ben? I'm not sure.) I mean, Celeste did pretend to be another person just as Courtney did in the show. Basically, much of the book was similar to that season.

Summary: Though The Selection does have its bad moments, the good overrides the bad. It was a fun, magical read that made me remember the fairy tales of old. Princesses, Princes, love triangles, they all figured into The Selection and I loved it for that! It was beautiful in (almost) every way.

Pages: 327
Series: The Selection Trilogy #1
Genre: Romance/Dystopia
Rating: 4 stars

"It bothered me, but I knew I couldn’t hold it against them in the long run. We couldn’t afford the luxury of wants. We had needs.”

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

Goodreads Blurb

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

Illuminate is an exciting saga of a teen’s first taste of independence, her experience in the lap of luxury, and her discovery she may possess strength greater than she ever knew

Jen Ryand from www.jenryland.com sent me an ARC copy for free, so thanks! Anyways, I saw many great reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed, but it didn’t meet up to my expectations either.

Haven Terra is offered an opportunity to work for the glamorous Aurelia Brown at the Lexington Hotel. What else could one girl want? And when Aurelia’s right hand man, Lucian, turns out to be an alluring gorgeous man no older than Haven, she think she’s in heaven. The key word being thinks. She discovers a journal with her name inscribed on it and receives letters from an unknown hand telling her things to do and calling her the “winged one”. What does that mean? And then Haven’s best friend, Dante, is pulling away from her, leaving Haven with the third person who came with them, Lance. To make things even more complicated, Haven finds out the Outfit, the prestigious group of beautiful people that work at the Lexington Hotel, have sold their souls for beauty. That includes Aurelia and Lucian who are planning on stealing the souls of Haven’s former classmates on prom night. Can Haven ever get a break?

I was hyped up for Illuminate which may be why it seemed so boring for me. Anyways, let’s look at the cover for a moment. I love the shadows of wings that seem to be sprouting from the girl’s back. It just tells you that there’s something supernatural about our main character, something that’s fairly easy to hide, but when someone finds out, they won’t forget it. It’s just an amazing cover. The model was perfect for what I imagines Have to be.

Onto the content: It took about 300 pages for me to finally get into the book. I’m sorry, but it was kind of boring. I mean, all she did was work and follow the orders she was given. There was a bit of romance between Lucian and Haven, but that was pretty much the only interesting thing besides the messages. But after the 300 page mark, everything finally started becoming entrancing. The action, the danger, and the hidden threat all made me enraptured and I quickly finished the book after that. A—ma—zing! The action finally started and the danger finally showed itself.  The rest of the book was the ideal plot of a paranormal fiction. And that was about 200 pages worth, so I would recommend at least reading it.

I loved the characters though. Even the Outfit. They had different, yet realistic, personalities (excluding the Outfit). The Outfit on the other hand, were the perfect characters to play the soulless slaves. Dante, as much as I loved his character, was a bit on the stereotypical side, being all girly-like. Just because he like guys doesn’t technically make you girly. But overall, the characters get a nine out of ten.

To be honest, I didn’t like Lance because of what happened between Haven and Lance, preferring Lucian more. I mean, no no spoiler, he just seems way nicer than Lance…It helps that he actually stands up to people…

Pages: 534
Series: Gilded Wings #1
Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Rating: 3 stars

“Everything sinful is glamorous these days, isn’t it?”

Showcase Sunday

Another week of in My Mailbox Showcase Sunday is here! I got a wonderful ARC trhough trade, and can't wait to read/review it! If you followed my on twitter you know what it is. What can I say? It was too exciting.

Credit to The Story Siren Books, Biscuits, and Tea for coming up with in My Mailbox   Showcase Sunday!

If you didn't know, In My Mailbox Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme where bloggers share what we recieved in the mail for review!

Books I bought:

         

Books I recieved form other bloggers:

         

No Books From Library

I acutally bought a giant batch last week but decided to save some for following weeks. Anyways, Everneath is the first one I'll be reading and it sounds so good! But the main character's name is
Nikki...hopeuflly she doesn't die. Embrace has been called the "Hottest Young Adult Debut of 2012" and I'll be having an interview with the author! check back on April 15 for that!

I am so excited to be recieving the ARC of The Selection! I love the cover and the plot! I'm going to be buying the finished copy when it come sout so I may give it up for a giveaway! The Scorpio Races seems interesting enough, but i'm not sure about it...

Author Interview: Amy Lignor

An author interview with the amazing Amy Lignor, author of until Next Time, Book 1 of the Angel Chronicles:

Fiction Freak: What was your reaction when your book was published?

Amy Lignor: Disbelief? Like Robert Pattinson had just come in and asked for my hand in marriage J. (And not everyone’s true love ‘Edward’- just the swoon-worthy actor) No, I suppose you could say that I was filled with hope and excitement that Emily and Matt were finally going to appear in people’s lives.

FF: Who is your absolute favorite YA author? And why?

AM: God, this is hard. I can go for ages with this one, but to just pick one author who represented to me the best YA fiction had to offer was J.K. Rowling, and she always will be. The characters she brought to life brought children and young adults back to reading.  She carved a monumental niche into history by giving the public something they, quite obviously, needed, and I truly admire her for that.

FF: Describe your daily writing process.

AM: When beginning a book I look at a month solid of sitting in the dark, listening to music, picturing my characters, and getting to know every fault, tone of voice, desire - everything I can about them. I need to know them before I can tell their story. When I begin to write it’s like a whirlwind. I have no set schedule.  I can get up at 1:00 a.m. and begin. I look up at the clock when I swear no more than an hour has passed and yet, there’s my dog, up for his 8:00 a.m. run, and I suddenly realize that I’ve been in that ‘world’ that I’ve created for a very long time. When the words hit, I run for that keyboard.

FF: What's the best and worst part of writing

AM: Best: Watching these characters come alive on the page, and caring about them. From the strong, independent ones to the sarcastic, intelligent ones to the romantic heroes to the worst of humanity - watching every character grow on that page is the best feeling in the world.

Worst: When the story comes to an end. I feel like I have to say goodbye and I don’t want to.

FF:In 5 words tell me what your book has that others don't.

AM: A new point of view!

FF:If your characters came alive what would you say/do?

AM: In my head, they’re already alive, we talk all the time. (No, I don’t need to be locked up. LOL). If they were standing in front of me I would give them a great big hug, a cup of coffee, and talk to them for hours on end. They’ve become my best friends over time and it would be great to be able to spend time with them in ‘real life,’ too. There is one character, however, I would probably sit and drool over and not know what the heck to say.

FF: Say zombies suddenly attacked your house. What would you do?

AM: If I surprised myself and didn’t pass out and become food for them, I would take my dog and run like the wind, hoping my angels were somewhere behind me to take them out.

FF:Funniest moment?

FF: I love humor and I try to find a way to laugh at everything. But I think the one that will always stand out for me was when my five-year-old daughter was watching cartoons and an ad came on that I couldn’t believe was being shown on a Saturday morning.  She turned to me and asked what a reptile dysfunction was. Without thinking, I just told her what I saw in my head - a crocodile with a limp.

FF:What is the one school subject you hate the most?

AM: Math. I have NO concept of why we have to take it, seeing as when we grow up we get handed a computer and/or a calculator anyway. Always seemed pointless to me.

FF:Have you ever pranked someone on April Fool's and if you did what did you do?

AM: I was working at a graphic arts company when I was younger and used some bright red ink on my face in order to ’create’ a bit of a nightmare for someone I worked with. I know it was gross, but this was before vampires were all the rage and this person truly believed that they could never be shocked or scared of anything because they loved horror books and movies and had seen it all. Apparently, he hadn’t seen everything J

Until Next Time Blurb:

How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?

Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.

When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.

From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.

Short Author Bio:

Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.

Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.

She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.

Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.

Contact Information:

Angel Chronicle's Website

The Angel Chronicles Facebook

Amy Lignor's Facebook

Amy Lignor's Twitter

Amy Lignor's Blog

Amy Lignor's Goodreads

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Goodreads Blurb

Starting over sucks. When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring…. until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something…unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don’t kill him first, that is

So here's what happened: I was browsing through another blog when I came across Obsidian. I wasn't so sure if I should buy it, so I checked out all the reviews I could find and with all the great reviews, I finally bought it. I was wary; usually 3/10 books I buy are absolutely horrible, but thankfully, Obsidian wasn't one of them!

Generally, I don't read sci-fi with aliens. I mean, come on! It'd just ruin sci-fi for me. After all, I never was a space person. But of course, with all the five-stars going around, I had to buy it. I'm so happy I did! I know I've said this for a few other novels, but Obsidian truly is a breath of fresh air. I bet no other author could make aliens sound so alluring like Miss Armentrout did! Usually, like many of us know, aliens just seem nerdy in fantasy books. No edge, danger, or much action. Obsidian was the opposite of all that, and I loved every moment of reading it!

Here's what happens: Katy moves to a tiny town where everyone knows everyone, so of course Katy feels just a tad nervous, Now imagine what happens when she find out that she lives next to sweet and bubbly Dee, but also gorgeous Daemon. Perfect life? She think so too until it turns out that Daemon is the perfect popular stereotype: gorgeous and a jerk. Cliche? Never. Sure, Katy felt attracted, but she truly hated him, something that stands out among all the "love at first sight" thing going on in the fictionworld.

Katy was a perfect heroine, strong and smart, but with her own insecurities. She wasn't a "total loser" like in some books or a "queen bee" either. She was...normal. And you know what else I loved about her? She had her own love of books, her own book blog even! Even memes like Waiting on Wednesday and In My Mailbox were mentioned. It was fun reading about a protagonist who not only readers can relate to, but even more so for bloggers!

I was ensnared within the first chapter and kept flipping through the pages, dying to know what was going to happen. Obsidian was a great read filled with romance, jealousy, danger, and sacrifice. It's honestly one of the most enticing sci-fi novel I've read!

Okay, turns out I actually hate this. Forget what I said before. The paranormal thing just seemed to be thrown in to make it more mainstream and the writing was awkward. The plot went really nowhere and it had way too many similarities to Twilight.

Pages: 299
Series: Lux #1
Genre: Sci-fi/romance
Rating: 2 stars

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads Blurb

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

One spoiler, but come one, like you weren’t expecting it.

Pandemonium, called the “Most Awaited Book of the Year” was absolutely amazing! As the sequel to Delirium, one of my favorite books, I was a bit afraid to read it. I mean, no Alex!? Crazy! It’s just not possible to make Pandemonium as good as Delirium with no Alex! Was I ever wrong. If possible, Pandemonium was even better than Delirium…except for Julian. I absolutely hate Julian.

Lena’s struggling to remove Alex from her memories, but that’s pretty hard to do when she was in love with him. Now, she’s an Invalid. Pretending to be a citizen. A spy! That’s what Lena is now, and there’s no turning back. Especially when in the middle of a ceremony, “Invalids” (the bad ones) raid the place and take her hostage as well as one other person named Julian. And maybe, maybe, she just falls one more time. Life for Lena is getting tougher and harder by the second.

Pandemonium switches between two different times, “then” and “now” and as confusing as it seems, it really wasn’t. The “then” chapters gave you more information on how hard it was for Lena to let Alex go. He was dead. Gone. But I couldn’t help wishing otherwise. I mean, if you’ve read Delirium, you have to love Alex! He was sweet, strong, protective, and definitely sacrificing. Who couldn’t love him? But when he…no. Just no! I was with Lena all along the way as she struggled with the nightmares that came to her, and the memories that haunted her. I loved Lena. She was strong in her own way, she stood up for herself, and she now realizes the lies she had been fed her entire life. In other words, she’s a great heroine. Not one that has always been strong, but someone who learns the hard way, what it really means to love, to fight for it. Seeing (or reading) Lena go back to her society with a new view on things made you realize how blind humans can be when told the right lies at the right times. How as long as we are safe, we won’t care as much.

We meet new characters, Raven, Julian, and really? I didn’t like either of them. Raven, because although she’s been through much, she’s hardened so much that she’s like stone. Barely anything can penetrate the wall she’s built, and no one can go in. Julian because well, Alex! I couldn’t believe it when Lena fell in love with him! It was just…shocking to say the least. The difference between Alex and Lena and Julian and Lena was that now, Lena was the Invalid pretending to be someone else, teaching someone what love truly means instead of Alex.

The writing was as good as Lauren Oliver’s other books. Her writing was like thoughts, a journal, not like someone was actually recording every little thing, smell, touch. It just made Pandemonium more enjoyable. The writing, the plot, it just pulls you in until you can’t breathe, can’t sleep. Lauren Oliver has done it again with Pandemonium and I’m not even sure where she’s going to take Requiem. There are many different directions the story can go. Which one will she pick? With an ending like Pandemonium had, there’s no way that readers will lose interest. It was fast-paced, adventure-filled, and romantic at all the right levels. Some questions will be left unanswered, others will make you gasp or scream. Pandemonium will leave you at the edge of your seat, willing for everything to be okay.

Pages: 375

Series: Delirium #2

Genre: Dystopian/Romance

Rating: 5 stars

"Everything is chaos: hot bodies and panting. There’s an elbow in my chest and thick arms encircling me, choking out my breath."