Book Haul + Weekly Recap

No pictures guys! Sorry!

For Review
Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans

Bought
Crash by Lisa McMann
Just One Day Gayle Forman
Timekeeper Alexandra Monir

Thanks to Lenore for sending me a signed copy of this! I loved it! 4 stars! My review is going to be up mid-February though, since this month's schedule is full!
I preordered these so I'm so glad they came! My first time preordering! ;) I'm reading Crash and it is AMAZEBALLS. I already read Just One Day and LOVED it. (find my review here), and I can't wait to read Timekeeper! THE CLIFFHANGER OF TIMELESS WAS JUST CRUEL


Weekly Recap
Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum
Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black
Waiting on Wednesday
The Storyteller by Anotnia Michaelis
Venom Readalong Week 1

Venom Readalong (1-8)

WEEK 1 OF THE VENOM READALONG!!! Made by MOI and Annabelle (Sparkles and Lightning!) Yes, this is late, but I just wanted to do Friday. You know, for no particular reason...

I will be answering this and pretending like I haven't read this awesome book already.
(Here are some other posts for this week! Just click here)

What do you think of Falco so far? Do you trust him?
So far? Absolutely NOT. I mean, he suddenly leaves before dawn for "work", he pops out of nowhere, and HE'S IN THE GRAVEYARD AT MIDNIGHT. I don't buy that story of reading...he's up to something.

Thoughts on Siena?
She seems very timid and super shy...that's about it!

If you were in Cass's place, would you sneak out and try to solve it or try your best to shake it off?
Probably shake it off. Actually, I wouldn't be IN a graveyard in the first place. Those things freak me out.

Is it stupid of Cass to trust Falco so much? Would you, in her place?

YES. I mean, hello random guy who lazes around in graveyards at night. Creepy, no? But I probably would. I mean, FALCO.

Do you think Cass' Aunt Agnese is smothering her?

Without a doubt! Stuffy lady...but I'm guessing not all the high society women were exactly like Cass, then. 

Did anything seem off about the funeral to you?

Nothing, unless you count the fact that the preacher's eyes seemed to dark to Cass at that one moment...

Short answers, but trust me, the next questions are going to definitely have more in depth answers!

NEXT UP:

Chapters 9-17!

Check out Fiona Paul's blog here!

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

Goodreads Blurb

A good girl.
A bad boy.
A fairy tale that's true.
A truth that is no fairy tale.
It begins the day Anna finds the child's doll on the floor of the student lounge. When it's claimed by Abel, the school drug dealer, Anna becomes determined to learn more about this mysterious boy with the military haircut and deep blue eyes. She follows him after school and discovers a secret: Abel is caring for his six-year-old sister, Micha, alone. Anna listens in as he tells her a fairy tale, the story of a little orphan queen pursued by hunters across the oceans for the treasure she carries: her pure, diamond heart. 
It's a story with parallels to reality. Social services and Micha's abusive father could take her from Abel if they discover the truth.
Despite friend's warnings, Anna is drawn to Abel and Micha, and falls under the spell of the story of the little queen and her desperate voyage.
But when people Abel has woven into his tale turns up dead, it's Anna whose heart is in danger. Is she in love with a killer? And has she set out on a journey from which there is no return?

I absolutely hated it, 100% hate.
I hated hated hated...
That I cried so much.

This book was absolutely spectacular, though a bit confusing at first. The writing was gorgeous and lyrical, poetic and beautiful, but there was a complexity to it that, if you couldn't figure it out, led to a lot of hard thinking about what this meant, who that was, etc. and honestly, it was sometimes hard to know until the straight-out tell! But it did create an atmosphere that added to the story--both the story and the fairy tale.

Honestly, while I did love the actual story, I found that the fairy tale actually captivated me more--just a tad! But I've always loved fantasy stories where nothing makes sense. But I was just as eager as Anna and Micha to find out what would happen next! Because this story was just what happened, what's happening, and what happens, in a more innocent and magical way.

Beyond anything, even how beautiful and touching the writing was, was how absolutely real the characters were. They were so...broken. All of them had their problems, even Anna who seemed to have a perfect life. There wasn't a mean girl, necessarily, who was a jealous (insert word), and there was no real evil person. It was just...life. How we decide who's our antagonist is really up to us and this book does accent that. (Ironically, I'm doing a presentation for Teen Leadership called "There is no Reality, Only Perception.") and I felt just sick how some people could seem so...kind and then have something ugly beneath. And this isn't just one character. I think this is, by far, the most accurate description of the world translated into a book. And I've read a lot of tries.

This book was absolutely touching and insanely emotional. I was almost SOBBING in math and that's not comfortable with people giving you strange looks and muttering "There she goes again", but the ending...Oh my GOD that ending. I think I melted into a puddle of tears. I couldn't...couldn't understand it, couldn't fathom it. I was just...shocked. Or maybe, like Anna, not shocked at all. This book didn't really have one conflict either, it was just...life as it sometimes is. I don't think there's ever going to really be another book that can beat it--it surpasses The Fault in Our Stars! (And I'd say 13 Reasons Why, but I never liked it anyways.)

Should you read it? Absolutely. Will you cry? Almost certainly. Will you wish you never read it, just so you could experience it over again? Without a Doubt. And will you love it? Of Course. Will you thank me later? OH, YOU BETTER. Because this WILL become one of your favorite books, and I can guarantee that you won't forget this. This is one that will leave it's own imprint on your heart--after it tears it up, glues, and breaks it again and again.

(Only reason it's not 10, though, was because of how depressed I felt afterwards. Not that it's necessarily bad...also, I just didn't see the romance. And Bertil creepeed me out)

Pages: 402
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Standalone
Publisher: ABRAMS
Release Date: Jan 1, 2012
Rating: 7 stars

Waiting on Wednesday

The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray

A virus that had once been contained has returned, and soon no place will be left untouched by its destruction. But when seventeen-year-old Cheyenne wakes up in Elysian Fields--a subdivision cut off from the world and its monster-creating virus--she is thrilled to have a chance at survival.

At first, Elysian Fields,with its beautiful houses and manicured lawns, is perfect. Teo Richardson, the older man who stole Cheyenne's heart, built it so they could be together. But when Teo tells Cheyenne there are tests that she and seven other couples must pass to be worthy of salvation, Cheyenne begins to question the perfection of his world.

The people they were before are gone. Cheyenne is now "Persephone," and each couple has been re-named to reflect the most tragic romances ever told. Everyone is fighting to pass the test, to remain in Elysian Fields. Teo dresses them up, tells them when to move and how to act, and in order to pass the test, they must play along.

If they play it right, then they'll be safe.

But if they play it wrong, they'll die.

Either suddenly the percentage of sounds-amazing-books of each year is increasing, or I just have a knack for picking out a lot of sounds-amazing-books! What first caught my eye was, of course, the cover! From the doll/person to the font, I absolutely loved how evilly innocent it looked! And when I read the synopsis, I was just hooked. Fighting to survive, to be with your supposed "true love" who won't, most likely anyways, even help you? To act like a doll all night and day? To both pass the test, and to stay within the bounds? Count me in!

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Goodreads Blurb

Dancing with someone is an act of trust. Elegant and intimate; you're close enough to kiss, close enough to feel your partner's heartbeat. But for Vanessa, dance is deadly – and she must be very careful who she trusts . . .
Vanessa Adler attends an elite ballet school – the same one her older sister, Margaret, attended before she disappeared. Vanessa feels she can never live up to her sister's shining reputation. But Vanessa, with her glorious red hair and fair skin, has a kind of power when she dances – she loses herself in the music, breathes different air, and the world around her turns to flames . . . 
Soon she attracts the attention of three men: gorgeous Zep, mysterious Josh, and the great, enigmatic choreographer Josef Zhalkovsky. When Josef asks Vanessa to dance the lead in the Firebird, she has little idea of the danger that lies ahead – and the burning forces about to be unleashed . . .

I had incredibly, incredibly high expectations for this, which may have something to do with the absolutely gorgeous cover, so I wasn't very surprised when it just fell flat of them, but I was a bit disappointed.

What disappointed me was how completely...shallow Vanessa was. And not in that personality sense. We never got to learn much about Vanessa really, and what we did learn irritated me. From what we see, she misses her sister, she thinks she knows it all, she's naive, and she's stubborn, and not a good sense. But apart from that I didn't really get much from Vanessa and her character seemed to be there only to move the plot forward. In other words, her character just seemed...well, fake and the same honestly goes for the other characters as well. Their personalities only pushed on the plot and honestly, were very stereotypical.

The romance was also a bit annoying. Vanessa seemed to fall for Zep right when she saw him and (SPOILER) seemed to fall for Justin (a.k.a. Josh, but in the eARC it was Justin, so I'll call him that for now) only when Zep was gone, even after bitching at Justin for so long. It was annoying and I really just wanted to say "Really?" She was so desperate and pining for Zep and I just wanted to smack her for being so weak.

The only redeeming things were the plot and world-building, in all honesty. 

The plot was a perfect pacing where it didn't go too fast for this type of supernatural, but it wasn't exceedingly slow. There were many twists I was shocked by, though I admit there were also a lot I had predicted beforehand, but it was still intriguing to see how things played out with this demonic dancing. 
I think that the premise of this is completely original. Since when have you heard of a dance that can destroy you? Never. At least, not that I've heard of! I loved the idea of it, I loved the sinister feeling the school gave off, and I loved each abnormal thing mentioned in the book! 

Dance of Shadows, while it does have it's weak points, was dark and stunning and will steal your breath just as ballet would. The sinister atmosphere, mysterious disappearings, and more will keep rapture you and you'll find this book hard to put down! 

Pages: 447
Series: Dance of Shadows #1
Genre: Supernatural/Romance
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Rating: 3.5--->4 stars

Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum

Goodreads Blurb

Twenty years ago, the robots designed to fight our wars abandoned the battlefields. Then they turned their weapons on us.

Only a few escaped the robot revolution of 2071. Kevin, Nick, and Cass are lucky —they live with their parents in a secret human community in the woods. Then their village is detected and wiped out. Hopeful that other survivors have been captured by bots, the teens risk everything to save the only people they have left in the world—by infiltrating a city controlled by their greatest enemies.

Revolution 19 is a cinematic thriller unlike anything else. With a dynamic cast of characters, this surefire blockbuster has everything teen readers want—action, drama, mystery, and romance. Written by debut novelist Gregg Rosenblum, this gripping story shouldn’t be missed.

Just got to say, THANK YOU Eileen for convincing me to get the ARC before preordering. Oh Thank God. And Eileen.

Not to say this was completely bad, it just wasn't for me. You guys know I try to find as many good things as possible, but everything was...less than average. Not completely bad, but...not that good which I'm completely depressed about--this used to be one of my most awaited books. The premise you guys! Killer robots! 

First things first: Characters. Wow did I want to facepalm. Nick was completely reckless and hypocritical, Kevin was just too under-self-confident, and Cass was just deluded sometimes. They all got each other in life threatening situations and I gave them FIVE total chances to redeem themselves, but nothing prominent really happened...I ended up just marking them up as annoying turned almost average characters, but I really feel like they were...flat. They were just boring characters who I read about in 3rd person. Maybe if it'd been done in 1st person, it would've been better...?

The killer robots were...well, less killer, more robot. They didn't seem like the heartless creatures who destroyed everything in their path like I thought (and hoped for). The only time they seemed as creepy as I hoped was in Nick's Re-education time which was basically the only main plot point I liked, possibly loved! I mean, sure chips in your neck tracing your every move and robots everywhere can be scary...if it's written right, and I guess...Revolution 19 just wasn't. Using other books, instead of a wasteland along the lines of The Immortal Rules,  it was more like Matched--a society where each move was tracked and not that severe punishments for any infractions. I was...disappointed to find that the robots were actually ruling an almost civilized world. They were more...bullies on the playground than Terminator material.

Yeah, I'm in a simile mood. English got to me.

Plot wise this book was lacking throughout most of the novel. Only the last 50 pages or so had exciting action and twists (that were slightly predictable) and the pages before had me completely bored. I finished this book through sheer will, honestly, and it may have taken me three days to read this (2 days longer than normal) to finish this since I err...fell asleep. Though that could also have something to do with it being midnight. But the action? Lacking in that area, and I'm sorely disappointed. 

Anyone looking for romance, not here. Go. SHOO! There was a little bit (which ha, you could totally see coming. It was adorable!) of romance and I found the couples absolutely cute! (Though the fact that they admitted their feelings right before they thought they were going to die...) Lexi and Nick vs. Cass and Farryn. Cass and Farryn were so much better, especially in that last scene! I swear I squealed!

Also, for a book that's apparently a stand alone, I'm in desperate need of an actual ending. No offense, but I'm not an open ended person. I need CLOSURE. Sure, I can be fine with it, but...what happens to their parents? What happens to their friends? What about that Epilogue?! 

So even though it sounds like I absolutely hated this, it did slightly redeem itself in the end, and I just didn't get that vibe to give it 2 stars or lower. I'm sticking to exactly 2.5. And you guys! My .5s are special.

Pages: 272

Genre: Sci-fi/Dystopia

Series: Stand alone (I think?)

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: January 8, 2013

Rating: 2.5