Stacking the Shelves (3)

This meme is hosted (and was created by!) the lovely Tynga at Tynga's Reviews for us to share any new books we procure - from new purchased books, review books, library books, gifted books, and ebooks! We're excited to be participating! :) 


Here are the books Randi got this week! (I've had a cold all week, so I didn't take any pictures!) All title links go to Goodreads!

Won

The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams - big thank you to Christen @ Goldilox and the Three Weres!


Library

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Beneath a Meth Moon by Jacqueline Woodson
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy


Netgalley

Ashen Winter by Mike Mullin (can't wait to read this! I loved Ashfall!)

Weekly Recap

• Becky's Top Ten list of characters she'd like to switch places with here
• Randi's reviews of Storm by Brigid Kemmerer and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
• Becky's review of Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
• Twice-Baked Thursday joint review of Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Becky's What's Next - Iron King wins!
• Randi & Becky's Waiting on Wednesday post 
• Randi & Becky's plans for the Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon

What did YOU get this week?

Leave us a link!

Review: Storm (Elementals #1)

Title: Storm (Elementals series #1)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publication Date: April 24th, 2012
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Paranormal & Romance (not the adult sexy kind)
Audience: Young Adult (though there is a lot of swearing)
Pages: 353
Source: Own (won a copy from the lovely ladies @ Me, My Shelf & I)
Rating: 4.5 stars I'd take a trip to Vegas with this book

Summary from Goodreads: Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys - all the ones she doesn't want. Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her. Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They're powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life's at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who's hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

The storm is coming.

My thoughts: First off, I love this book. I would gladly take Becca’s place. And take Chris. Or Gabriel. Or Nick. Or even Michael. Heck, I’m not picky! I love those Merrick boys.

I’ve never read a story about elementals, and my experience with elementals to this point was of killing them in World of Warcraft. But these elementals are a teensy bit different; they’re not whirlwinds of air or water…they’re hot. (Well, Gabriel’s a fire elemental, so he’s literally hot.) But seriously, these Merrick brothers…DAMN. They’re snarky, serious, powerful, and mysterious.

 Anyway, this story was a pageturner. Not everything is spelled out in the beginning, in fact, it starts with an action scene (Fight! Fight! Fight!), so you literally HAVE to keep turning the pages to find out what in the hell is going on. The whole book is like that. It is intense!

Another thing I love about this book is the high school atmosphere Brigid Kemmerer has created; every little detail reminded me of what it felt like to be in high school – the uncertainty of a relationship (or is it? Are we just friends? Is he flirting with me?! What did he mean by that?!), the spats with friends (why is she so MOODY?!), the rocky relationship with the parentals (they seriously expect everything to be just fine between us?!) – it’s all here. It makes the story seem real, which is kind of incredible since we’re talking about elementals (I know, I know, everyone is inside the circle…).

The writing. I docked this book a half star because although I loved it and am biting my nails waiting for the next book (and I am not a nail-biter by nature!), the writing fell short when compared to the books that I have given a full five stars. I just couldn’t put Storm on the same level as the beautiful writing of Laini Taylor in Daughter of Smoke and Bone or the sweet, funny, and/or snarky moments in Huntley Fitzpatrick’s My Life Next Door. But that’s okay! Because although the book is clearly well written (seriously, it is! And it is funny! And there are sweet and snarky moments!), it doesn’t need to be that kind of story. It's got a cast full of kick-ass characters and a crazy cool plot. It’s intense and it makes your heart pound wondering what the hell is coming next. The feel of this book is completely different, and I love it even for that. I’m just not ready to say I’d marry it quite yet (maybe one of those Merrick boys if I weren’t already married and fictional boys were real..!), but I’d definitely consider taking a trip to Vegas and seeing what happens…

So if you’re looking for a delightful, fast-paced, butterflies-in-the-stomach, hot-boys (multiple ones!), and a little bit of paranormal, don’t miss this one!

There are also novellas: Elemental (#.5 - pre-Storm) and Fearless (#1.5 - post-Storm) and Spark (#2 in the series!) comes out August 28th!

Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon Plans

We're participating in the Summer Wrap-Up Read-a-Thon sponsored by Jude @In Between Reading and Writing and Jennifer @Some Like It Paranormal! This Read-a-Thon lasts from the 4th to the 12th. Join in! And let us know what you're reading! We'll post periodical updates throughout the week, participate in challenges, and all of the books we manage to read will be featured in future reviews or Twice Baked Thursday reviews (check here to learn more about our Twice Baked Thursday meme & to participate!)
Becky's planning to read (all covers link to Goodreads): 

And Randi would like to read (I know I definitely won't get to all of these! Haha. Better for me though if I have a variety of genres to choose from!) :)

I can't wait to read Becky's review of The Fault in Our Stars! It's one of my favorites!

Stop by & see how we're doing. And leave us a link to your read-a-thon post.

Happy reading!

Review: Sisters Red

Title:Sisters Red
Author:Jackson Pearce
Source: Library
Rating:  Four stars-I'd take this book for coffee
Audience: Teen/adult crossover
Genre: Fantasy (urban)
               *Fairytale Adaptation

Summary from Goodreads:
Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?

My Thoughts:

This book was not perfect, but I loved it anyway.  I was drawn in by the awesome cover and immediately arrested by the harrowing relationship between Scarlett and her sister, Rosie.  The problem for me was that Scarlett really carried the story, yet it was divided equally.  I could have done without seeing through Rosie's eyes while she made origami or took dancing lessons.  She didn't strike me as a complex character despite the outrageous circumstances.

"I follow, always, because it's the only time when our hearts beat in perfect harmony, the only time when I'm certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are one person broken in two.” 

Scarelett, however, was beautifully developed.  If I could go back and time, she'd be second on my "Character's I'd Trade Places with for 24 hours" list.  I found her drive to kill the wolves both admirable and disturbing, the way she deals with her scars fascinating, and her desperation to hold onto her sister heartbreaking.  

The atmosphere in this story was really dark and menacing, which of course I enjoyed.  The imagining of werewolves was AWESOME.  You will not be falling in love with these creatures, and if you did they'd rip you apart.  Were it not for the strong element of human romance, this story would be solid horror.

"It was him, the salesman, but it was also...not.  He still had shiny blond hair, but now it was speckled across his body like patches of disease.  His eyes were enormous and hollow, his mouth twisted and stretched as if his fave ad been pulled apart at the corners, revealing rows of long, pointed fangs.  His back arched as if it were broken, hunching his shoulders and turning his feet it.  And his feet...the horrible claws were as long as fishing hooks and left deep gashes in the floor-boards as he inched closer to the girl

Twice Baked Thursday (2): Looking for Alaska

Twice Baked Thursday is an original weekly meme created here at Cardigans, Coffee and Bookmarks.  This feature was created because Randi and I (Becky), often read the same books and have very different opinions about them.  When we read the same book we do a joint review on it, showing both sides. Our reviews will "talk back" to one another, one reviewer writing in another color text. Please feel free to join us and link to our blog in your post, and also use the widget below to link your own double review to our page.

This week's book is Looking for Alaska by John Green.  Our twist will be a read-alike list for this title (if you liked...read....).

Title: Looking for Alaska 
Author: John Green
Genre: YA Contemporary Realism
Pages: 220
Source: Library (Yet another book Randi owns!)
Rating: 5 I'd marry this book
              4.5 I'd propose to this book over coffee

 Summary from Goodreads: Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

Becky (Randi's talking back to Becky's review in RED!): This book was so good I didn't even put it down to donate plasma.  I didn't put it down until I was falling asleep on the couch. Then I promptly woke up early (for me), grabbed my large Dunkin' Donuts coconut iced coffee out of the fridge and my double chocolate donut, and didn't put it down until I was done. I was flipping those pages one handed, but it was worth it.  Did that while I drank coffee, ate donut, and ate the chocolate chip pancakes my hubby made when he got home. If you're looking for a book with characters so vibrant and real you forget you're reading fiction, then this book is for you.  If you're not looking for that...don't you think you should be? You definitely should be. There were clear parallels to The Catcher in the Rye structurally, thematically, and in the writing style. Eh, I love both of these books for different reasons. I felt like I learned different lessons from both. In my opinion, Looking for Alaska has more of an "ending" than The Catcher in the Rye, which I think has a more open-ended conclusion. Also, I felt much more in Holden's head than I did in Pudge's - with Pudge, I was more of a bystander. Your mom is a bystander. 

The pace was unhurried, but compelling. It wasn't the kind of book you could rush.  Oops!! The compelling bit totally made me rush it. The character-centered story-line was full of literary references and introspection.  HUGE fan of literary references in my fiction. Pudge's obsession with peoples' last words was a unique twist. And Alaska's obsession with the labyrinth (and her Life Library) provided a wonderful alternative to the "OMG I LOVE BOOKS" main characters so persistent in YA. Though I love those characters, Alaska and Pudge both had non-typical inclinations, which made them even more real to me. The tone was varied, sometimes humorous, sometimes bleak, but always bittersweet.  Green's writing style is conversational and candid with a prosaic attention to language. John Green has a wonderful way with words. It seemed like virtually every line would make a great quote. Sadly, most of my favorite quotes include spoilery bits, so I'll refrain from including any. Suffice to say, you must read this.

After reading this I promptly added all Green's other books on goodreads.  Read The Fault in Our Stars already, blast you, woman!

We hope you enjoyed this Twice Baked Thursday post!

Links to read-alike books (all links go to Goodreads):

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

FTC Disclaimer

All reviews are solely the opinions of Becky and/or Randi. We are not paid in any way for our reviews, and all opinions are 100% honest.

What's Next (3): Becky

What's Next is a weekly feature started by Hafsah at IceyBooks. Basically, we need your help deciding what to read next! So check out the books below & vote on what YOU think should be our next read!




I'm really feeling dragons this week.  But which shall I choose?  I did not enjoy Eragon, so I'm really trying to find the opposite of that as far as writing style.  I enjoyed Dealing with Dragons as a child and the Pit Dragon Chronicles.

Option One

 The Dragons of Babel

Michael Swanwick

A fantasy masterpiece from a five-time Hugo Award winner!

A war-dragon of Babel crashes in the idyllic fields of a post-industrialized Faerie and, dragging himself into the nearest village, declares himself king and makes young Will his lieutenant.  Nightly, he crawls inside the young fey's brain to get a measure of what his subjects think. Forced out of his village, Will travels with female centaur soldiers, witnesses the violent clash of giants, and acquires a surrogate daughter, Esme, who has no knowledge of the past and may be immortal.  

Evacuated to the Tower of Babel -- infinitely high, infinitely vulgar, very much like New York City -- Will meets the confidence trickster Nat Whilk. Inside the Dread Tower, Will becomes a hero to the homeless living in the tunnels under the city, rises as an underling to a politician, and meets his one true love–a high-elven woman he dare not aspire to.

Option Two

Seraphina

Rachel Hartman

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides.

 An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page

Option Three
The Iron King
Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.  Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Waiting on Wednesday (3): Becky & Randi

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine for book bloggers to highlight the books we are anxiously awaiting!

Today, Randi is waiting on:

Amber House

by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed,  & Larkin Reed

Publication date: October 1st, 2012

Summary from Goodreads: "I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . ."

Sarah Parsons has never been to Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that's been in her family for three centuries. She's never wandered its hedge maze or explored its secret attics; she's never danced in its ballroom, or hunted for the diamonds said to be hidden in its walls.

But as Sarah, her brother, and their icy mother settle into Amber House, she finds herself drawn to both handsome Richard, who introduces her to a world of wealth and privilege, and intriguing Jackson, who dares her to find the diamonds. She discovers she can see visions of the mansion’s history—like her mother as a young girl, unimaginably warm and happy, or the cruel sea captain who lost the jewels long ago. Piece by piece, she uncovers the secrets of Amber House: its ancient crimes, and its fresh betrayals.

Where are the diamonds? Who caused her mother’s unhappiness? And what tragic act still echoes through Amber House? Sarah needs answers soon. Because when her visions threaten the person she holds most dear, she must untangle the web of the past before it traps them all forever.

Why I'm waiting anxiously: First off, that cover? So lovely! I love the hedge maze and it really sets the tone for the story, giving it that Gothic, spooky feel. Crime, betrayal, family estate, mystery and intrigue? Yes, please! I love that more Gothic novels seem to be popping up in YA, as it's one of my favorite subgenres of horror in adult and classic fiction. 

Today, Becky is waiting on:

City of A Thousand Dolls

by Miriam Forster

Publication date: February 5th, 2013

Summary from Goodreads:                                                         Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

      Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.


Why I'm waiting anxiously: I was drawn in by the cover, of course, as I always am.  I also think this sounds like a really unique world, and hopefully one that will be described with lots of setting.  One of my biggest pet peeves for a book is when I can't picture the world.  This story looks like it will have a strong, active,  intelligent heroine and a touch of romance. Just what I like!