#10books

Hi guys! Hope you all are having a fabulous week. ;)

So I was tagged by my friend for the 10 books game. :D

The game: list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take more than a few minutes,and don't think too hard.  

Thank you to my friend (who shall not be named :D) for nominating me!!:) 

1. The Bible
2. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
3. If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin
4. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
5. Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul
6. Atonement by Ian McEwan
7. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
8. There You'll Find Me by Jenny B Jones
9. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
10. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

If you've been tagged too (or decided to just do it for the fun of it ;) ) , comment below so I can check out your list! :)

Best wishes,
Kyendwarrior :D

Waiting on Wednesday Wk 22

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by the awesome Jill over at Breaking the Spine!:)

What I'm waiting on this week:



Plot blurb:

We Were Liars meets Heist Society in a riveting debut!

Seventeen-year-old Violet’s entire life has revolved around one thing: becoming Erica Silverman, an heiress kidnapped at age five and never seen again. Violet’s father, the best con man in Las Vegas, has a plan, chilling in its very specific precision. Violet shares a blood type with Erica; soon, thanks to surgery and blackmail, she has the same face, body, and DNA. She knows every detail of the Silvermans’ lives, as well as the PTSD she will have to fake around them. And then, when the time is right, she “reappears”—Erica Silverman, brought home by some kind of miracle. 

But she is also Violet, and she has a job: Stay long enough to steal the Silverman Painting, an Old Master legendary in the Vegas crime world. Walking a razor’s edge, calculating every decision, not sure sometimes who she is or what she is doing it for, Violet is an unforgettable heroine, and Pretending to be Erica is a killer debut.

OMG this book sounds soooo good!! Why 2015?!? D:

Release Date: July 21st, 2015

So what are you guys waiting on this week? 
:)

Waiting on Wednesday Wk 21

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by the awesome Jill over at Breaking the Spine!:)

What I'm waiting on this week:

 

Plot blurb:

A teenage girl secretly competes in her city's prestigious athletic competitions in this high-fantasy adventure that can be pitched as Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games meets Little Women.

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

The Hunger Games part isn't that exciting, but Game of Thrones, Hunger Games, and Little Woman all in the same sentence? Now 

I'm intrigued.  ;)

Comes out: August 18th, 2015

What are you guys waiting on this week?

:)

Just One Day

Author: Gayle Forman

Release Date:  August 20th, 2013 

Publisher: Speak

Genre(s): YA Contemporary 

Pages:  400

*1st book of a duet*

~Spoiler Free~

Summary (Goodreads):
Allyson Healey's life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life.

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the “accidents” of fate,Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost. . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.


Review: 

*Hi everyone! I’m so sorry I was MIA this week.  Life’s been hectic lately, but it should settle down a bit, and I’ll try posting more often next week!   I have a challenge to fulfill. :)*

I’m not sure what to say about this book. LOL.

I loved If I Stay/Where She Went (I have yet to have watched the move D:… and the Giver for that matter D:… even though I’ve heard things about the about both movies…), and when I heard Gayle Forman was writing another book, I was so excited. (It took me a while to get this book though because I got sidetracked… again… oops xD.) But after finally reading it, I… don’t know what to say.

I mean it was a good book, but I guess my expectations were too high? It was the sort of book where you would initially get overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions, but then afterwards, you would look at the book, and be like, “Huh, it was okay.” 

I think this mostly had to do with the fact that I expected their one day to last the entire book, or at least have more things happened to bring them closer together (I guess that doesn’t sound too realistic, but they say a lot can happen in a day ;)).  I actually didn’t mind the numerous coincidences because there was something whimsical about just letting things happen for once and to go along with it. But I felt their day was… too short? LOL I know that was probably the point, but I expected more things to happen in that day, and looking back on it, not much did happen.  Most of the book was about Allison’s life afterwards and her search to find him.  To me, I felt the search to find him seemed almost like filler.  So eh.

The main thing about this book was not so much the content (I felt this book was aiming to be a contemplation of life and fate, and in some parts it was, but in others… not so much), but how it was written.  The writing was absolutely GORGEOUS.  It was poetic in a way, and there were so many wonderful places where I marked the sentences to go back and read it again.  For me, I think the emotions wrought from the book were mainly due to the way the words were formed.    

Allyson was an okay character.  I found her likeable in some ways, but in general, there was something... off about her. She (as a character) seemed disjointed and inconsistent.  The feeling I got about her was that the author was really trying to give her a different voice/personality than Mia (from If I Stay), and it sort of didn't work, and instead, it made Allyson seem like this disjointed character- but that's just my opinion. Also, there would be random moments where she would say, think, or do something, and it was like, "Ummm. What?"  It didn't fit Lulu or Allyson.  As for Willem… he wasn’t a cardboard character, but he wasn’t complex or well-rounded either.  I mean this idea of one day seemed like a whimsical idea, but in the end, I think the book suffered because of that- and one of the results of that was Willem. He was in that in-between stage where you sort of know a person, but not really.  I feel like Willem is going to be developed more in the second book... but that’s whole another book, ya know? 

With all that being said, I didn't really like the romance because it felt too sudden.  It wasn't insta-love, but there wasn't much chemistry between them.

 Final thoughts?  To sum it up (I feel like my thoughts were everywhere on this review lol) : it was a good book (the writing!!!!), but there was something not quite right about it. 

Thanks for reading! :)

Rating: 2.8 out of 5

(I was debating between a 2.5 and a 3, and I compromised on 2.8. LOL) 

Waiting on Wednesday Wk 20

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by the wonderful Jill over at Breaking the Spine!:)

What I'm waiting on this week:

FINALLY!! (or should I say Finale D:)

Blurb:

Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen—all of them—and they're stronger than ever. They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood—the blood of Olympus—in order to wake.

The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the huge statue belongs back on Long Island, where it "might" be able to stop a war between the two camps.

The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east. The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over.

I have mixed feelings about this one.  On one hand I WANT THIS BOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW. On the other hand, after this one... no more new Percy adventures. D:

Comes out on October 7th, 2014 

What are you waiting on this week? :)

Goals!! 10 reviews

Hi guys! :D

So it's been about year since I've been blogging (0.0) (determining the exact date/ month is a little complicated because I technically started this blog earlier, but didn't post anything for a while because I was still working out all the kinks and picking which reviews to edit/post, and then when I did start posting, after a few months, I switched emails to this official one, and then all my old posts kind of got repeated and smushed together into that month, and I'm not sure when to start counting?? LOL.), and I've noticed that as the year went on, the amount of reviews I did in a month became less and less. So for this month I've decided to set myself a goal of posting a minimum of 10 reviews.  I don't know if I'll be able to make it or not, but I'll never know unless I try! :)

This is more of a personal challenge for myself (sort of to celebrate a year since I started this blog? LOL), but feel free to join in (and comment below)! :)

Hope you guys have a fantastic week!!

Truly,
Kyendwarrior

Waiting on Wednesday Wk 19

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by the awesome Jill over at Breaking the Spine!:)

What I'm waiting on this week:


Blurb:
There's death all around us.
We just don't pay attention.
Until we do.

The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.

Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be.

As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there's a secret she hasn't told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.

Lex's brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn't have to be real to keep you from moving on.

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand, The Last Time We Say Goodbye is a gorgeous and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and letting go.

I can't wait!! :)

So what are you guys all waiting on this week? 

:D

300 Followers!! :D

Hi everyone!!:)
Hope your week is going fabulous. ;)

(Source)

I know I just celebrated reaching 260+ followers, but I have now reached 300 followers!!!!

(Source)

OMG!!!!  I'm seriously at a loss for words right now, and as you guys all know, that rarely happens (my long-winded reviews can attest to that LOL ;)), and all I can say is thank you, thank you, THANK YOU so much to each and everyone who follows this blog ;).  I couldn't have reached this milestone without you guys! :) <3

(Source)

I'm unfortunately not going to be able to have a giveaway this time, but at the next milestone that comes around, I definitely want to do another one!! :)

If I could hug you all, I totally would. ;)

(Source)

Thank you all so much once again!!

(Source)

Lovely wishes,
Kyendwarrior :)

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Author: Beth Fantaskey

Release Date:  February 1st, 2009

Publisher: Harcourt

Genre(s): YA Paranormal

Pages:  351

*1st book of a series*

~Spoiler Free~

Summary (Goodreads):
The undead can really screw up your senior year ... 

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.


Review:

I liked this book... a lot.

I will admit: I read all four books of the Twilight series. (I was... book pressured? xD)  I thought they were... okay?? But this was back in middle school (dark times those were... jk jk LOL. I actually loved most of middle school xD),  but when I finally re-read them again my soph year (I don't know why I did that... I should have donated the books), I could finally see why they were considered so... horrifyingly terrible (but still, I would argue, a teensy bit less terrifying than most other vampire books out there).  

But *ahem* anyways. Moving on.

What I'm trying to get at here is that because of my experience with Twilight (and Vampire Academy and Hush Hush and other vampire books- I don't know why I read them in the first place (well actually, I do know- I was hoping to find a good vampire book...ha.ha.) and I think I'm mixing them up with fallen angel books??) I used to approach YA vampire books like I would my middle school's "popcorn chicken" (btw, while I think the soggy chicken was half real, the cheese and the corn was most definitely not): cautiously while holding back the gag.  But the title caught my interest, and as I began reading on, it was nothing like any other vampire book I'd read before.  The book totally caught me off guard, and it was surprisingly entertaining and very enjoyable.

Vampires in this novel are actually pretty normal beings- of course, they drink blood and are undead, yada, yada, but otherwise, they're mostly human with enhanced features.  No special powers or anything. I was surprisingly okay with that.  It was an interesting and new take on vampires, and I was ready to roll with non-sparkly vamps.  Of course, sparkle-less vamps alone doth not maketh a great story- but I didn't have to worry: this book also delivered with the characters and their dynamics.  Jessica and Lucius are HILARIOUS.  Jessica is an independent and spirited mathlete, while Lucius is the arrogant (but quirky ;)) vampire prince who always gets what he wants. Both of them have a snarky sense of humor, and neither of them are willing to back down.  Put them together, and the rest I'll leave up for you to find out in the book. ;)

What I will say though is that I loved the character development in this book.  They each go through major changes as the book goes on, with Jessica becoming more confident (quick tangent: I really liked how this book dealt with the issue of learning to love and embrace yourself), and Lucius becoming more human.  Those different sides were always a part of them, but being with each other brought them out, and I think those are the best relationships. :) I especially enjoyed Lucius' letters because we were able to see his change throughout the story, personally, and also hear his voice- untainted by Jessica's bias ;).

I did have a few iffies with this book, and most of those all dealt with the ending.  I thought the ending was a bit rushed, and that scene at the very, very end was a teensy bit overdramatic.  But those were really small iffies in the grand scheme of things, and while I did think it was a bit rushed, it was still a nice ending. ;)

Final thoughts? Great characters. Awesome development.  Nice plot (well, not so much a plot, but more of just a story of interactions).  My faith has been (semi-restored) in vampire books. xD

Thanks for reading!:)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5