Author Book Signing

The Princeton Barnes and Noble hosted a book signing event where part of the proceeds to book purchase went to save a local library. Needless to say I was in my glory with my stack of books. I convinced Corey to drive me over 2 hours up the road to meet Amy Ewing, the author of The Jewel. We hung around for about 2 hours (me stalking the shelf like a weirdo) waiting before we had to head back home. Here is a group of authors. I personally purchased Pandemic, Providence, Empty, and A Tragic Heart.

Here are the messages that the authors wrote in my books :)

Now although I did not get to meet one of my new favorite authors I did get a happy ending!! After we finally made it home Corey took me for a walk in the local nature trail and proposed to me *yay* Now I get to start my own happy ending. And start planning my literary themed wedding!

The Styclar Saga: Lailah - Nikki Kelly

Currently reading :)

Nothing to special about the cover. I'm more of a fan of less is more.

My boyfriend loves batman, so I was so excited to see this as the first quote before the book started!

Ok it took me about 2 days to finish this book but that does not mean that it was not good. This book held a lot of suspense in it. The main character, Lailah/Cessie/Francesca, has a weird 'dark guardian angel' following her that seems to appear when ever she needs help. The beginning is hard to get into, but that is only because you are left just as confused as the main character. With each flash back of memory that Lailah has you become more interested and curious as to what she is and where she came from.

Now, Lailah comes across a vampire, Jonah, who is of course hot like all vampires are described. With the saving of Jonah she comes into contact with Gabriel. I am bias because I am a sucker for true love and I just wanted her and Gabriel together right away. As the book goes on though you start to feel for Jonah. Jonah is a vampire trying to redeem his soul through the help of Gabriel. Something in Lailah makes Jonah act more human than he has before and he is so sweet and cocky all at the same time. I don't like that he openly is with other girls which makes me love Gabriel more.

Gabriel in this book is so shut off and secretive. It gets frustrating especially knowing how Lailah feels about him automatically. You eventually learn why is was the way he was but sometimes things may just be too late. The book ends in a complete cliff hanger that I don't want to ruin because this is an up and coming author. So seriously go read this book because it was unlike anything I have read before. I love original plots and deep characters. It gives me hope that there is a magical world out there somewhere that has yet to be discovered.

This author came to be up and coming through this site called the Wyatt App. This is the second book I have read that is a product of this site and I am again not disappointed!

Hollow City - Ransom Rggs

Just in from the library!! Currently reading. Review to be posted

The cover of the 2nd book. You meet this peculiar girl in Part Two.

Update 11/17 almost done! Sorry its taking so long, life is hectic right now

Not much more to go now

Well its almost 5am here and I am finally done the book. I will say the first few chapters drug along with the childish bickering, but the story gained momentum fast and did not stop until the very last page. In this book the children are set out to find a way to cure Miss Peregrine who is stuck in bird form. We come to find out almost all of the Ymbryne's have been captured by the Wight's. The children find their way into an old Loop where peculiar animals live. Their ymbryne Miss Wren has fled to London in hopes to help her sister ymbryne's who were under attack.

From there the children, who need a ymbryne to help Miss P, make a long journey to London and hit lots of hiccups along the way. When they leave the loop they come across a group of gypsies and manage to hide on the back of a wagon for several hours before they are discovered. At first the gypsies shove the children in a cage and threaten to harm them however suddenly one of the men steps forward and chooses to hide the children when the wight army comes looking for them. You soon find out the gypsy man has a peculiar son who is rapidly turning invisible. With a new found understanding the gypsies agree to help the children get to the train station. They make it but are soon taken by the wights and are forced to fight their way free.

Once free they manage to catch back up to their train where they indeed finally make it to London. London is under attack because it is still 1940 where they are and World War II is still happening. They follow clues hidden in the Peculiar Stories that lead them to St Paul's Cathedral. Here they go searching for pigeons as mentioned in the story they are peculiar and help lead the children to Miss Wren. They find the hidden loop in the crypt of the church and find themselves at a side show event where they go searching for other peculiar people. They find a boy who tells them the name of an intersection which the children follow and low and behold finally find Miss Wren. They give Miss Wren the peregrine who is their ymbryne in hopes to heal her. Now at this point the bird who is Miss P has become aggressive and been acting more bird like. The children fear this is her losing her humanity and becoming more animal.

While staying inside the building, which is covered in ice thanks to a peculiar girl, the children learn that peculiar's are teaming up in hopes to fight back against the wights and save their ymbrynes. The group is torn down the middle and some decide to stay back where it is safe and others choose to let Miss Peregrine decide what they should do. Emma tries to convince Jacob to go home at this point which he actually agrees to do!! I was appalled at this because he is just starting to truly understand his ability to feel the hollows.

**Spoiler Alert**

It's show time. Miss Wren is about to break the spell keeping Miss P a bird when suddenly it is not Miss Peregrine, but her brother who is peculiar and can also turn into a bird. You learn that the wights from the first book tricked the children into taking Caul, and letting them think it is Miss Peregrine. The whole time Caul sat listening to the children and learning of all of their weaknesses and abilities. Caul has the building surrounded and ends up taking everyone captive by killing the peculiar girl who makes the ice. The large group is brought to present day London when they exit the loop and are being stuffed on a train when a fight breaks out. The bendable man slips out of his cuffs and makes a run for it. The wights shoot him of course causing chaos in the subway. Emma uses this as an opportunity to fire up her cuffs and melt them off of her. She and Jacob fight several Wights before being knocked out by the blind brothers screaming. Jacob is semiconscious when he sees the Wights shoving the last of the group onto the train and Addison dragging him to safety. When Jacob comes to he learns Addison's loop had been invaded by wights and he fought his way out of it. Jacob takes a call from his father where he tells him he is alive, he loves him, and he hopes to return one day. A hollow shows up, which only Jacob can see, and some how Jacob realizes he has another peculiar ability, he can talk to and control hollows.

The book ends there which still leaves us with questions of course. I am looking forward to the third book mostly because of Jacob's life like premonition dreams. At first I was convinced they were what was going on in the real world in current time but then at the end I was convinced I was wrong. Jacob dreamed he was being burried and could hear his family and friends talking about him. I thought this was due to the fact he was from the recent times but was stuck in the past. Then, at the end of the book when Jacob takes the call from his father, you find out his parents are in London looking for him. I also want to point out that his phone had 177 missed calls from Dad. Not 1 from Mom... his mom was very strange from the first book and almost seemed happy to have both men leave her house. I predict something comes of that. Now back to the dreams... Jacob has a dream from his grandfather which was obviously him saying you can control hollowgashts. I want to know if this is some ability Jacob has or if it is something his grandfather is able to do.

Well, on to the next book!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

I started reading this book one day at work because it was available as an e-book through my local library. I wasn't sure I would even like it, but the cover sucked me in. Yes I choose books by their covers.

I will say I was instantly trapped in this book and found myself not even noticing when people were talking to me. You start off hearing these wonderful stories from Jacob's grandfather, Abe. Now as a reader you automatically think these are fake and the main character grows to stop believing in them as well. One day Jacob's grandfather Abe is killed by wild animals near his home and Jacob is the one to find him. This leaves him terribly disturbed and has to seek counseling to try and work through the incident.

This counseling leads Jacob and his father, Franklin, to the island where Abe was living as an Orphan. From here the book seriously picks up pace and you find out that yes, all of the stories were true. Also, all of the kids in the photographs also exist and they have yet to age. Jacob becomes familiar with all of the children and Miss Peregrine as well as the dangers they face. Not long after Jacobs continued visit to the Loop, the Hollows end up finding them. Hollows are what they call the bad wights because they lost their souls during a dark magic type ordeal.

The book ends with a cliff hanger and some unanswered questions. I look forward to reading Hollowed City to see what happens next. The only thing I will comment on the book is the righting style is definitely that of a younger reader however the content is more for an older reader, if that makes any sense.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, again I read it through my Kindle. The book has such good creepy photos to go along with the story.

Redeemed - PC Cast & Kristin Cast

Currently reading... Review to be posted

Well sorry it took me so long, I had life going on and got a little side tracked. This book was actually good. I know I haven't reviewed the other 11 books on this blog or the 3 novellas but if you are on shelfari you can find me (sgamble187) and read my reviews on them there.

Rant time - I wish it didn't take P.C Cast and Kristin Cast 12 books to finally do what readers have been complaining about since the second book. My biggest issue with this entire series has always been the redundancy. By the time I hit book 6 and they were still explaining why Grandma called Zoey u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya I wanted to slam the book down and be done with it. If I didn't love books so much I just might have. And it wasn't just with Grandma, it was with everything that could possibly have been related to a previous book. I wanted to scream to the authors that we are obviously several books in, we get it, stop repeating yourself. I won't continue on about the previous books and what angered me because this book was actually really good and I am happy I stuck it through to the end. Again just read my shelfari reviews if you want to see my opinions.

*spoilers ahead*

So, Redeemed. Zoey finally gets her shit together. If you are an avid reader of this series you will get the little joke I made there. (for those who haven't read the series Zoey does not curse). When I first started out the book I was so afraid it was going to be the who is Zoey going to have sex with saga all over again but it was not! In the beginning Zoey turns herself in because she believes she murdered two men in the park (Revealed). Now we, the reader know Nefret is the true killer. Don't worry Zoey doesn't waste the book away in there, she is actually out in a few chapters. The #1 thing I have always loved about this whole series is how it changes narrators so you can see where several characters are at once. I loved getting inside Nefret's head and see just how crazy and deluded she had become.

Crazy Pants Nefret decides the Mayo (a hotel in town) is now her temple where people should worship her. She honestly thinks that the people inside are waiting to worship her... She uses her little darkness worm things to take over peoples bodies and make them do her bidding. Nefret is easily upset and lashes out on the receptionist Kylee just because she doesn't immediately refer to her as Goddess. Nefret goes on throughout the book just proving how crazy she is by throwing people off of her balcony and making her worms burst through peoples bodies. One human, Lynette, does not get taken over by the worms and pretty much becomes Nefret's personal assistant. Lynette is only saved by the fact that she herself is power driven and uses that to her advantage to please Nefret. In the end she dies like all the other people trapped in the Mayo but seriously it's Nefret I wouldn't have expected it to be any other way without it seeming cheesy.

Kalona goes on to prove his worthiness of forgiveness to everyone. His story is more of a wrap up of the novella Kolona's Fall. So I did enjoy his part in the book just to see how far he really has come and why he has been so jaded over the years.

Shaunee and Erik end up together. While the characters in the book don't find it weird I certainly do. Erik was always a cry baby to me in the books. Shaunee is a strong character, her affinity is for fire for goddess sake! ;) I do like the turn in personality Erik took not being so self centered like he has been but that is the running theme of the book. People changing and coming to see what is truly important in life.

This book should have been called Zoey Redbird Finally Stops Whining. This is the first book that I have liked Zoey's character. Being in jail finally makes her snap into reality and make some major decisions that needed to be made 6 books ago. I do understand why she was so annoying in the other books because obviously they wanted to show her growing as time went on. And now that the last book has been written I can appreciate the annoying Zoey in the earlier books. She really does come a long way and starts to act like an adult.

My favorite quote in the book I took a picture of sorry if it is grainy. It is at the end of the book before the big showdown which is in the last 50 pages. I started to panic thinking how on earth can this book be done and have all my questions answered in 50 pages. Well they do it, and they do it well. That is why they write books and I read them.

So that is the end. I will try and do better reviews like this for future books too.

Witch World - Christopher Pike

Now this book took on a theme I hadn't really read before. I usually read books about the supernatural because who doesn't want to escape from reality from time to time. The main character, Jessie, and all of her friends have recently graduated high school. The main setting of the book is in Las Vegas, where the entire senior class has agreed to spend their first weekend as graduates. Jessie's ex-boyfriend, Jimmy, tags along with her group as planned by Jessie's best friend Alex, so that they can work things out.

Jimmy reveals to Jessie why he broke up with her out of the blue and stopped talking to her. Jimmy's ex-girlfriend, Kari, became pregnant and they had a baby boy named Huck. When Jessie asks why he is there and not with Kari he states Huck passed away 4 days after he was born. Jessie feels bad for Jimmy but is still mad for not including her in his reasoning for leaving and she storms off with Alex to start their night of fun.

Skipping ahead in the story some Jessie meets Russ who cryptically tells her to find him when she does not know what else to do. Jessie is later kidnapped and locked in a meat freezer until she passes away. When she wakes up she is in Witch World, a world that runs parallel to the real world. Jessie, now known as Jessica, finds out she is part witch, and she now is able to control herself in both worlds. In Witch World Jessica finds her and James (Jimmy) have a baby girl, Lara. Witch World and the Regular World share events with one another but sometimes those events don't always match up. Hence, Jimmy having Huck and James having Lara.

Lara is an extremely rare powerful baby with all 10 of the known witch genes. Now a story needs a bad guy so here is where that comes in. The bad group, the Lapras, kidnap Lara in hopes to turn her evil. Long story short it doesn't work. Jessie is tempted by evil only to have Jimmy, yes Jimmy not James, help her through it. She overcomes temptation... this time. Witch World II, Black Night, comes out December 2, 2014 and I am certainly interested to see what direction Jessie takes.

The main things that bothered me in this book was that these kids are all newly 18 and have kids themselves. It is not exactly promoting a good idea to young readers. I get it is just a story but it was weird none the less that Jessica's father was totally cool with her having a kid at 18 and even helped the Tar push her and Jimmy together. The only other thing that was a tad bit odd was that turns out all of Jessie's closest friends have the Witch Gene. It is lamely explained in the book as people who have witch genes and don't know it are often drawn together...

The story line was very good and the dialect was easy to read and believable for someone who is 18. I like that the book for the most part gives you closure on the main characters and even some of the back characters. They didn't disappear like in some books once the story gets going.

Bound to You - Christopher Pike

Bound to You by Christopher Pike is two of Pike's books published together, Spellbound and See You Later.

This book honestly took me forever to finish because Spellbound just did not captivate my attention at all. The book is about a group of friends in high school who find out their one friend is a monster who kills people. That is all fine and a plot I am used to reading. The problem I had with the book is that everyone is described as breathtakingly hot and extremely athletic. Of course our main character is a football cheerleader who dates the quarterback of the football team. All of the kids driving amazingly fancy cars and have nice big houses up in the mountains. Oh and their parents, they don't mind the kids staying out all night long or anything. The main characters parents even hide in their room so their son can have a girl over at 1 in the morning. The whole premise just frustrated me.

See You Later is a whole different story. I loved this story and found myself not able to put the book down once i started it. This is about a boy who meets this girl Kari, and eventually gets her help in getting a date with a girl he really likes. There are a few plot twists I don't want to ruin because wow this story took crazy turns. The ending leaves you sad but satisfied.

If you can find these books separately, which is how they originally were published, just skip Spellbound.

Kiera Cass - my first meet and greet

So this past summer I was able to meet one of my favorite Authors, Kiera Cass, who wrote the Selection Series. A recent post on her website reveals she is adding two more, that's right TWO more full length novels to the series. The Heir is set to release May 5, 2015 and there is no title or date on the last book.

The Selection is about a girl, America, who is put into a pool of girls to try to win Prince Maxon's affection in hopes to be the new Queen. The setting is in the future in the United States where we have reverted back to a King and Queen instead of a President. Also, the people have been broken down into a caste system of numbers where what ever your number is will decide what type of work you can preform. America is currently a 5 which are artists and musicians. Maxon is the son of the current King and Queen making him a 1. Aspen, America's long time friend and neighbor, is a 6 which is the lowest of the Castes and he is a laborer. In the Selection America deals with the fact that a lot of people cannot see past the number she once was. Once you are chosen for the Selection you are bumped up to a 3 which is where most other famous and wealthy people are. I dont want to say to much more without giving it away.

The Elite continues on with America deciding if she can win Maxon over or if she will risk it all for Aspen. She also bumps heads with Maxon's father and realizes there is a lot more going on outside of the Palace with the caste system than the King is letting on. Again, if I say more I will surely be giving too much away.

The One, as you can probably guess Maxon has to narrow his choice down to 1 girl and choose his bride and the future queen. This book was better than the first two, which is very hard for most authors to pull off. Kiera Cass really does an amazing job at keeping you interested right up to the very last chapter. I wanted to cry at some parts and SCREAM at Maxon and America in others. This last book really makes you feel what the characters are feeling.

Now there are Novellas in this series as well.

The Prince is about the first time Maxon comes into contact with America. Honestly this just made me love Maxon even more than I thought I ever could. I love novellas told from the opposite sex's point of view. You read about Maxon's struggle to win over his Father and yet make is own decisions to make an attempt for real love.

The Guard is told from Aspen's point of view when he joins the Guard, making him a 2 and being in the palace with America while she is dating Maxon. I wasn't fond of Aspen but this book did give me a soft spot for him.

The Queen is being released in 21 days and will be about The Queens time in the Selection. How she came to become the Queen and the bonds she made with the other girls she competed with.

The Favorite is to be about Marlee. I am not sure what this is about because I have not really researched too much about it. I did pre-order the Queen/Favorite combo pack and will make an attempt to update after I have read them both.

The Jewel - Amy Ewing

Since I am terrible at blogging apparently I am going to attempt to keep up to date reactions to all of the books I read. You can visit my shelfari page and see what i am reading there as well as what I plan to read in the future. [sgamble187]

I recently read The Jewel by Amy Ewing. WOW is how I would sum up this book in 1 word. If you have read the Chemical Garden Trilogy (Wither, Sever, Fever) or The Selection Series (The Selection, The Elite, The One, -The Heir* not yet released) Then I have no doubt that you will also love this new and up coming series.

The Jewel isn't a piece of Jewelry, it is actually the center of an island or the capital of this 'country'. The book never really says exactly what the world is only that water surrounds all of the land, and that is where the poorer families live. Then there are stone walls separating each class of citizens basically until you reach the center, which is the Jewel.

The people of the Jewel are royalty and you soon learn that for what ever reason they cannot conceive children of their own. Have no fear though, because they are royalty they have tons of money and can afford to buy girls to carry their children for them. They even have the technology to choose to have a boy or a girl. But this isn't even all of it...

The story follows Violet, a girl who is chosen to become a surrogate after a blood test shows she basically has magic in her. They call magic Augury in this book. There are 3 different kinds, the ability to change colors, the ability to change shapes, and the ability to make life or growth. The royals buy these girls and use the Augury magic to have the perfect children. The girls are forced to use the magic to make the child look how their owner wants them to look.

There is a love story in this book, however the main focus point is on Violets struggle to take charge of her life. She realizes very quickly that she has never been able to decide on anything since she was chosen to become a surrogate. When she is purchased she is even more limited and must listen to what The Duchess of the Lake tells her to do. When surrogates do not listen they are punished and in some cases even put to death. The whole book you are put on the edge of your seat waiting for The Duchess to hurt Violet for disobeying her. Lets just say it finally happens at the end of the book and you have to wait for the next one to come out around 1 year from now :(

Now to the writing style. It is told from a 16 year old girls point of view, but thankfully Violet does not act like a younger girl as in some other young adult books (I'm looking at you House of Night novels). There are very long descriptive parts about the scenery and the background on what is going on. I am the type of person who usually skips this part of the book and looks for the next set of quotation marks to pick back up on the story. This town, country, whatever it is, is seriously so interesting to me that I didn't skip any details. You as a reader are pulled right in to this story by the first few pages. I just needed to know more about Violet and the Jewel. I read this book in a day, which sadly is not unusual for me when I find a good book like this. Amy Ewing really sold me on her first book she had published. I have high expectations for the second book which does not yet have a title but is set to release September 2015.

Update 9/22. If you write to Amy on her website AmyEwingBooks.com she will respond!!! So insanely cool that she takes time out of her day to do this!

My first book post! Son by Lois Lowry

Well first off I will be writing spoilers about this book. So beware what you read if you plan on reading this book.

Back in my high school we had to read 'The Giver' which I will sum up for anyone who forgets. The Giver takes place in a Utopian Society where no one can see colors and the government decides everything for you. You are given your career at 14. The main character Jonas starts to see things like an apple differently than he has before. On the day of his placement for a career he is chosen to be a Giver. His family has been temporarily caring for a child who Jonas believes to be gifted like he his. The government decides the baby is too different and sentences it to death. Jonas and the baby escape leaving you to wonder what happens next.

Part I
Now onto Son. The book starts off with a girl Claire who is 16 and she was made a birth mother. She gives birth to the product, which is how families in this society get their children. Something goes wrong during her birth and they end up doing a c-section to get the baby out. After this incident Claire is deemed not a good vessel to carry kids. Before she leaves she is able to find out from a nurse she had a son and he is number 36. She is then sent to work at the hatchery which is where fish are genetically engineered and grown. In her free time Claire visits her son at the childcare center. She cannot tell anyone that he is her son or that she has feelings for him because it is against the rules. Claire finds out that the man at the center who has been caring for her son is the father of Jonas from 'The Giver'. We learn Jonas escapes with her son who we thinks name is Abe at this point. Claire finds a way out of the community during the commotion brought about by Jonas escape.

Part II
Claire ends up washed ashore in an unknown village where she is cared for by a woman who never had children of her own. Her Claire slowly regains her memory and trains to get herself ready for the journey to finding her son. Claire is tought about colors, medical things, and cooking while staying in the village. (I summed this up it wasn't interesting to me)

Part III
After Claire makes it over the mountain she trades her youth with The Trade Master so she can be with her son again who is now fairly old. Claire turns into an old lady and struggles with the decision to talk to her son who we learn is Gabe. This part is told from Gabriel's point of view. Jonas has told Gabriel as much as he can remember about the society they originated from and Gabe cannot come to terms with the fact he was essentially a factory made baby. Close to death Claire finds Jonas and confides in him the truth of why she has come to the village. Jonas tells Gabe who goes to find the Trade Master so he can save the mother he has been wishing for, for so long. Gabe defeats the Trade Master and reunites with his now young again mother.

This is a very short summation and all I can say is I am so happy I read this book. It has been a while since I read 'The Giver' and I have forgotten how opened ended it was. Once I got into reading it I didn't want to stop. It was especially interesting the parts of the story that happened at the same time The Giver happened. To read the stories as they cross paths and intertwine was so amazing considering the books are by two different authors. Long of the short is if you have read 'The Giver', read 'Son'.