Shelf Spotlight: 22nd November


Shelf Spotlight is my weekly haul meme where I talk about all of the books that I have got this week in print and ebook format!

It's based on Stacking the Shelves hosted over at Tynga's Reviews and The Sunday Post hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

For review: NetGalley/Edelweiss

So I was trawling trough all of the books for the past few months for anything I may be marginally interested in and may have requested... a lot. Here's what I got!

Finding Harry Styles The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know Every Ugly Word Captive


Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) Siena Solitaire A Wicked Thing


Liars, Inc. The Memory Key Little Peach A Work of Art


The Creeping Twisted Fate Every Last Promise Charlie, Presumed Dead


Illusionarium Proof of Forever  Made You Up The Cost of All Things

The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak Heat of the Moment Kissing in America (Kissing in America, #1) Emancipated


Leave a link to your haul and I'll call by!
Also, please feel free to follow via Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'!
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Review: Linked by Imogen Howson

Linked

For years, Elissa has suffered nightmarish visions and unexplained bruises. Finally, she's promised a cure, and an operation is scheduled. But on the eve of the procedure, Elissa discovers the truth: she's seeing the world through another girl's eyes. A world filled with wires, machines and pain. Elissa follows her visions, only to find a battered, broken girl. A girl who looks exactly like her. A twin she never knew existed. Elissa and her twin Lin go on the run, but even after changing their looks and clothes, they're barely a step ahead of the government agents who are ruthlessly tracking them down. For Lin and Elissa are too valuable to let go, and the dark truth at the heart of it all is too shocking to risk exposing...

I was really excited to start Linked when I got it through for review, but university unfortunately stopped me from immediately devouring it. I did eventually get to read it and I did get through it in a matter of hours. It was intriguing, kept me guessing and didn't fail to shock me in the end.

However - with all the compliments I can give this book - I cannot fail to mention the issues that I had and regretfully, there were quite a few, As a start, I can't not mention how one dimensional I found every character. Elissa had all of the potential to be an interesting, dynamic character but I found her flat and boring instead, which is sad. Lin, her twin, was even worse. She was this confusing characature of a psychotic robot and I couldn't help but grow bored of her crazy/not-crazy act. The romance also fell flat, though there was some light there. It wasn't exactly instalove because the main character has had a crush on her love interest for a while and they haven't only just met. That was a saving grace, because it meant there was some tiny semblance of chemistry there.

 The world building also fell short for me, with terms and slang coming out of nowhere with no explanation. However, I understand what Howson was trying to do - she was trying to avoid the inevitable sci-fi infodump - and it did work,somewhat.

 The end did shock me, and I am still excited to read the sequel even though I had some faults with this, so I guess that says something.

 Overall, Linked had some great potential but fell short on the execution in most areas. I will still read the sequel though, so I can't have disliked it that much!

Book released August 13th 2013 by Quercus
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait to Get!


So, an admission, most of these books have already been released. Plus I only have 7 of them!

However some of you may or may not know that I have been away from blogging for a while because of personal studies and other hobbies (Fanfiction, yo!) and now I'm getting back on my feet. Hopefully I will be getting some of these in the near future.

In pretty much no particular order!

1. Prodigy by Marie Lu - So I only just read Legend a few days back (I know! What have I been doing all these years?!) and omfg it was amazing (review to come). The end just had me gasping for air and the whole thing was just so gripping, so this is a definite must have for me.

2. Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughan - Scarlet was such a great read for me and I am so excited so see what happens next, after the Gisbourne thing! I love the setting and world in this fic!

3. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas - Ugh! I need this! The first two books just grabbed me and refused to let me go and I am sooooo desperate to get my hands on this and find out how Celaena and Chaol's story develops!

4. Cress by Marissa Meyer - Cinder and Scarlet were absolutely flawless. Cress takes my all time favorite fairytale so it had better be just as good. I seriously cannot wait to get this (Next months wages!!) yay!

5. World After by Susan Ee - Right. I adored Angelfall and I need this and the third one is soon so this needs to get to me ASAP. That's my reasoning at the moment. Ughhhh Penryn is one of my alltime favorite heroines.

6. Shadowplay by Laura Lam - Pantomime was... something different to anything I had ever read before. It tackles gender issues in a way no other YA book has yet, and yet it was magical and beautfiul and everything I never expected. 

7. Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman - Seraphina was everything I love in a fantasy book, and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel next year. May need a bit of a refresher though to remember exactly what happened in the first book!

Feel free to link up to your blog and I'll call in and say hi! 
-Jade

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Review: The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

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When fifteen year old Mio Yamato furtively sneaks the katana - an ancestral Japanese sword - out of its hiding place in her parent's attic to help liven up her Christmas party costume, she has no idea of the darkness she is about to unleash on modern day London, or the family secrets that she is going to uncover.

The paralysing paranoia that descends on her before she gets to her friend's party is her first clue. The vivid and terrifying visions that nearly get her killed are a pretty good warning too.

The giant nine-tailed cat demon that comes after the sword and tries to rip her throat out? Overkill.

Seconds away from becoming kitty-food, Mio is saved by Shinobu, a mysterious warrior boy. But it's already too late. Mio has ruptured the veil between the mortal realm and the Underworld, and now the gods and monsters of ancient Japan stalk the streets of London, searching for her and the sword. 

With the help of her best friend Jack, a fox spirit named Hikaru - and the devoted protection of the betwitchingly familiar Shinobu - Mio attempts to discover the true nature of the sword and its connection to the Yamato family. Because if she doesn't learn how to control the katana's incredible powers, she's in danger of being overwhelmed by them. And if she can't keep the sword safe from the terrible creatures who want it for their own, she'll lose not only her own life... but the love of a lifetime.


Zoe Marriott is a goddess, and I am just a humble servant.

 Okay, wait, maybe that was a weird way to start this review but, honestly, there's just no other way to put it. I have forever worshipped this woman's writing and she has not failed me yet. I've loved all of her previous books (all fantasy), with Daughter of the Flames being one of my all time favorite reads ever. That being said, I adored Shadows on the Moon and I loved how Marriott weaved in the traditional Japanese intricacies with such ease so I should have been confident about The Night Itself.

 Still, somehow I wasn't. Marriott has forever impressed with her fantasy titles but urban fantasy is a whole new ball game. I was hoping that Marriott would not dissapoint and sure enough she didn't. This book is thrilling from the get go, with the action happening pretty fast in. I did have some issues with it but they were, for the most part, rebutted by the awesomeness that is Zoe Marriott's action writing.

 There's something about Japanese mythology which has always gripped me, maybe it's my childhood with anime and manga or maybe it's something else, and I loved how these things were written from a British born Japanese girl's point of view. The action was amazingly written - especially the final action scene - and Mio was kick-ass (if sometimes rather annoying). I was gripped from start to finish.

 However, as I said above, Mio was pretty annoying to me sometimes. To start with I never got why she took the katana. Forget about her Grandpa's severe warnings and her somewhat confusingly broken memories, what teenager takes a sharp scary sword to a party anyway?! That's just screaming stupid to me. Sure, it completed her costume, but what's up with a plastic katana from eBay?  

 Also, as much as I myself swooned over Shinobu, I did have some issues with the love story. I felt that it developed way too quickly (oh why the insta-love, YA authors?!) and it lacked chemistry. Like, I didn't hate it. I shipped it pretty hard by the end, but I would have preferred a few more moments rather than 'ohmygodthisjapaneseguycameoutofmyswordandheshotomg'. I expected better from The-Goddess-That-Is-Zoe-Marriott and this was a tiny letdown.

 However any issues that I had with the main cast was easily fixed by the supporting cast. Hikaru and Jack are characters that I adore and I cannot wait to see how all of that plays out. I'll be reading the others even if only for them.

 Overall, The Night Itself was not without it's flaws. It was, however, gripping and funny and a really pleasant read.


Book released July 4th 2013 by Walker Books
Book purchased by myself.
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Review: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic
Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do. Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

 Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

 For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

I first heard of Panic last year, right before the start of my blogging hiatus, I guess I had no idea what to expect - I never got the memo that this is a contemporary for one. I guess because of how much I loved Delirium and Before I Fall I was expecting something similar and in a weird way it is. Lauren Oliver has this undeniable talent for taking contemporary setting and adding this extra to it. In Panic that little extra was the thrill.

 Now, I did definitely really enjoy this book, there is no doubt about it, and I really can't fault it since it is in essence the book that brought me out of a year long reading slump. That being said, there were things that I have to bring up. Panic seriously didn't grip me until about two-thirds the way through it. I was enjoying it, in a chilled out, getting-to-know-the-characters way, but the thrill that this book promises didn't really come until quite late in the book and even then it didn't completely reach my expectations. I did enjoy it, my heart was in my chest near the end, and I read the whole thing in the duration of one bath, but I can't help but feel like there could have been a lot more delivery a lot sooner in the book.

 That being said, the thing that did keep me reading the whole way through was the characters. At first, Heather is a difficult character to feel anything for - she's weak yet strong, she's the tough girl to her best friend Nat's ditz. I soon began to support her though as she grows. I loved Dodge the whole way through though, and I was praying for a romantic story between him and Heather (at the start), before I realised that in a way he's an antihero. He plays the game for himself and nobody else. Bishop was just a support character at the start but later in the book you realise that his role is a whole lot bigger, and I loved that little curveball. I did love how that whole thing escalated - the Bishop and Heather thing - though romance is definitely not the key part of this book. 

 I guess in conclusion I could say that Panic was a pretty average book - and I should probably be scoring it slightly lower than I am - but I can't because there is something about Oliver's writing that keeps me hanging on even if I'm not 100% commited to a book and that is a big part of the reason why Panic is getting a pretty high grade.

Book released March 6th 2014 by Hodder and Stoughton
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review 
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Review: The Vow by Jessica Martinez

The Vow

No one has  ever believed that Mo and Annie are just friends. How can a guy and a girl really be best friends?

Then the summer before senior year, Mo’s father loses his job, and by extension his work visa. Instantly, life for Annie and Mo crumbles. Although Mo has lived in America for most of his life, he’ll be forced to move to Jordan. The prospect of leaving his home is devastating, and returning to a world where he no longer belongs terrifies him.

Desperate to save him, Annie proposes they tell a colossal lie—that they are in love. Mo agrees because marrying Annie is the only way he can stay. Annie just wants to keep her best friend, but what happens when it becomes a choice between saving Mo and her own chance at real love?

 Martinez is a good writer, I'll start by saying that no matter what I'm about to say in terms of the plot and characters Martinez can write well, and she writes for her audience. The way that she can write in both boy and girl narratives and build a well paced and engaging plot is exactly why her books are as successful as they are, and adding onto the fact that she's obviously done her research on immigration laws. The Vow is my first Martinez book and I can assure that it will not be my last.

 To start with, I disliked both Annie and Mo. Annie seemed really needy and selfish, like she only cared about Mo moving away because she needed him, leading to her making rash decisions. Mo also seemed selfish at times and he seemed very stupid, putting his best friend ahead of his family. I can understand why the pair decided to actually get married but they were both very stupid and dived head first with no research into it and no thought of the what-ifs. That being said, they both grew on me as we realised why they were so close and what they meant to each other, and as they begin to realise that they were very rash and naive.

 In fact, my favorite thing about this book was watching Annie fall for Reed and struggle with the fact that she was married and at some point would have to tell him. It was really good to watch her come to terms with the gravity of what she had done. In the end it comes down to romantic love versus friendship love, and I think that whilst the choice Annie makes won't be popular with some reasons, it was the perfect conclusion to her development.

 Overall, The Vow was a well informed and engaging read that had some fantastic character development. I wasn't hooked immediately since the characters were frustrating, but as the story went on I became so emotionally invested in Annie and Mo's happy ending. This book saved itself, and Jessica Martinez has definitely peaked my interest.


Book released  5th October 2013 by Simon Pulse
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (Edelweiss)
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It's been a while...

It's been a while, but I'm back. However, whilst I am continuing reviewing at InkScratchers I will only be reviewing one or so books a week and I will not be taking part in memes again for a while.
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