Title: Sealed with a Curse

Author: Cecy Robson

Series: Weird Girls, #1

My rating: 3 of 5

(Book read from September 26th-28th, 2013.)

  

Summary:

 

 

Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like other twenty-something girls - with one tiny exception: They're the products of a curse that backfired and gave each of them unique powers that make them, well, a little weird…
  The Wird sisters are content to avoid the local vampires, werebeasts, and witches of the Lake Tahoe region - until one of them blows up a vampire in self-defense. Everyone knows vampires aren't aggressive, and killing one is punishable by death. But soon more bloodlust-fueled attacks occur, and the community wonders if the vampires of Tahoe are plague-ridden.

Celia reluctantly agrees to help Misha, the handsome leader of an infected vampire family. But Aric, the head of the werewolf pack determined to destroy Misha's family to keep the area safe, warns Celia to stay out of the fight. Caught between two hot alphas, Celia must find a way to please everyone, save everyone, and - oh, yeah - not lose her heart to the wrong guy or die a miserable death. Because now that the evil behind the plague knows who Celia is, he's coming for her and her sisters.
    This Wird girl has never had it so tough.

 

 

  

My Thoughts on the Book:

Sealed with a Curse is a nice urban fantasy book, set in a supernatural world of vampires, werewolves, witches & other werebeasts, and Celia & her 3 sisters are the weird ones between them all.

They have different & unique powers between them, powers that they got as a result of a backfired curse.

What I liked about this book? The world was interesting enough, the vamp virus itself was intriguing, although I pretty much guessed quite early who was behind it all, and most of the characters were quite likable.

What I didn't like about this book? The romance between Celia & Aric, and Aric himself. Celia actually has two love interests - Misha, a master vampire, & Aric - a werewolf. It's not that I prefered Misha - he was ok character, and interesting enough, but I really, really couldn't like Aric as a character, and the romance & the chemistry between him & Celia was really lacking, and I'm sorry to say this, but Celia acted a little bit silly when it came to Aric, she acted like a silly lovelorn teenager, and I really didn't like that.

But, I really liked Celia's sisters & their love interests. Now, the chemistry between those characters I could feel, they were actually quite sweet, especially Koda & Shayna, and all of them were really likable characters. To be honest, they're the biggest reason why I would give the 2nd book a chance.

Sealed with a Curse was fun & action-packed book, so give it a try. Even though I only liked it, maybe it will be the read for you, and the romance between the MC's will work for you. As for me, I will give the 2nd book a try, hopefully it will work more for me, because the romance was the biggest reason why I lowered the rating.

  

   

 

Challenges:

 

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge

 

Title: If I Stay

Author: Gayle Forman

Series: If I Stay, #1

My rating: 4.5 of 5

(Book read on September 23rd, 2013.) 

Summary:

The last thing Mia remembers is the music. After the accident, she can still hear it. And she can see her damaged body being taken from the wreck of her parents' car - even though she doesn't feel a thing.

All she can do is watch as doctors rush to save her life, as her friends and relatives gather outside her room, as the boy she loves struggles to be near her.

As the next twenty-four hours unfold, Mia must come to terms with what came before the crash - and what would come after. And she knows she must make the most difficult choice of all. If she stays...

 

 

  

My Thoughts on the Book:

I've heard great things about Gayle Forman's books, and now after finally reading this book, I can see why. I totally breezed through this book, I just couldn't stop reading it until I finished it.

What I loved the most about this book, was the approach the author took while developing all the characters. I definitely got to know & love them, and of course my heart was breaking for them. I totally got teary-eyed, and sad and heartbroken.

I loved Gayle Forman's writing style, and I'm definitely going to read more of her books.

 

I don't want to go into details about the story, so I won't, but all I'm going to say is that If I Stay is one great, but heartbreaking contemporary book, that I recommend a lot to every fan of contemporary books.

 

 

 

Challenges:

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge

2013 Read-along Challenge

Title: At Grave's End

Author: Jeaniene Frost

Series: Night Huntress, #3

 My rating: 4.5 of 5

(Book read from September 16th-19th, 2013.)

Summary:

SOME THINGS WON'T STAY BURIED...AT GRAVE'S END
 
It should be the best time of half-vampire Cat Crawfield's life. With her undead lover Bones at her side, she's successfully protected mortals from the rogue undead. But though Cat's worn disguise after disguise to keep her true identity a secret from the brazen bloodsuckers, her cover's finally been blown, placing her in terrible danger.
 
As if that wasn't enough, a woman from Bones's past is determined to bury him once and for all. Caught in the crosshairs of a vengeful vamp, yet determined to help Bones stop a lethal magic from being unleashed, Cat's about to learn the true meaning of bad blood. And the tricks she's learned as a special agent won't help her. She will need to fully embrace her vampire instincts in order to save herself - and Bones - from a fate worse than the grave.  

  

 

 

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

 

 

Before I finally read this 3rd book in the Night Huntress series, I absolutely loved Cat & Bones as a couple, they're actually one of my fav couples, probably my most favorite. But, this book was the turning point when almost all the secondary characters in the series got a special place in my heart. I mean, sure, I already really liked some of them, but this was the book when I realised how much I love almost all of them, and I know I'll never get enough of them, so I'm really glad for all the spin-offs featuring these characters, I can't wait to read them.

At Grave's End had pretty much everything - mystery, lots of kick-ass action, romance, heartbreak, a few surprises, and a lot of info about the vampire world, and I loved learning more about it, so I'm definitely going to continue with the series.

I don't want to go into too many details, but as I said, I loved almost all the characters: Cat, Bones, Spade, Mencheres, Ian, Vlad, Denise, Rodney, even Cat's mom, and all the others, I can go on & on. The only one I really, really disliked (and still do) and that pretty much irritated me quite a lot through the whole book was Tate.

The storyline was really interesting, so it was a great sequel to this amazing series, with an amazing, yet heartbreaking ending, and I'm looking forward to reading more of this world.

So, if maybe you still haven't tried the Night Huntress series, what are you waiting for? I can't recommend these books enough!

 

 

 

Challenges:

 

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge

2013 Jeaniene Frost Reading Challenge

 

Title: Twice as Hot

Author: Gena Showalter

 

 Series: Tales of an Extraordinary Girl, #2)

 

My rating: 4.5 of 5

 

 (Book read from September 10th-15th, 2013.)

 

Summary:

Belle Jamison is finally starting to feel like a normal girl again. Her job as a paranormal investigator is going well, she's learned to control her supernatural abilities (mostly) and she's just gotten engaged to Rome Masters, the ultra-sexy operative who once tried to neutralize her!

But planning a wedding is never easy, especially when the bride keeps accidentally torching her dress, the groom returns from a dangerous mission with selective memory loss and the man responsible now wants Belle for himself. With Rome's ex determined to win him back and a new band of supervillains on the horizon, it will take all Belle's powers; plus a little help from her trusty empath sidekick; to save the day, salvage the wedding and prove that true love really does conquer all.

 

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

Gena Showalter is now one of my favorite authors, and the first book by her that I've read over 3 years ago was actually her first Tale of an Extraordinary Girl - Playing with Fire. Since then, even though I've read many of her books, I never got around to read this sequel, so now of course I re-read Playing with Fire first before I delved into Twice as Hot, and I actually loved it even more this 2nd time. The 1st time I rated it 4.5 of 5, but after I re-read it, I changed it to 5, since it was pretty awesome. Anyway, although Twice as Hot wasn't as awesome as the previous book, it was still really great & fun read that I totally loved, so yeah, Gena Showalter has done it again.

Belle is getting ready for her wedding with Rome Masters, but after he returns from a mission, he doesn't remember her at all - his memories of Belle are stolen from him, so poor Belle, she's still endlessly in love with him, and tries to get him to remember her and all that, and he's acting really hostile & angry to her, and wants to return to Lexis, and of course lots of memorable situations come out from all this mess. I was cheering Belle all the way, especially when it came to kicking Lexis' butt ;)

Anyway, yeah Rome acts like a jerk, although I guessed why he acted like that, but he gets over that, and of course there was some great chemistry between him & Belle, even though he didn't remember her.

This book was really entertaining, with fun dialogue, some butt-kicking, and it made ma laugh lots of time. But, what I really have to mention are all the secondary characters. Most of them, we already met in the 1st book, and once again I loved them all as characters (except for Lexis, of course), although there were a few new ones, too. First of all - Tanner - I absolutely love this guy, he's such a sweety, and once again he made me laugh again & again through out the book, although my heart was breaking for him, too. And of course the yummy Cody, her best friend Sherridan, the sweetheart Sunny, as well as the new ones - Elaine & Jean-Luc. My biggest surprise was Jean-Luc - I expected to hate him, but I was actually surprised by how much I liked him as a character, so yeah, although this is probably the last book & it wrapped up pretty much everything for everyone, I would love a spin-off book with him, because I would love for him to get a happily ever after, even if it has to be with Lexis, who doesn't really deserve him after all she did. When it comes to Lexis, through this 2 books I constantly changed how I felt about her - I disliked her, then I liked her, then I hated her, and I've also felt sorry for her, so yeah, not one of my fav characters.

As for the story, although I pretty much predicted what will happen next while reading, I didn't mind that, because it was really entertaining, and I pretty much loved almost everything about it.

I highly recommend the Tales of an Extraordinary Girl duology to every UF & paranormal fan, you won't regret it! I know I'll love reading these books again & again, and I wouldn't mind reading more adventures Belle & the gang would go on, because I loved the characters, and I know I'd never get enough of them.

 

 

Challenges:

 

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge

The FrightFall Read-a-Thon is hosted by Michelle a.k.a The True Book Addict at her read-a-thon dedicated blog Seasons of Reading!

The read-a-thon starts on Monday, September 30th at midnight CST and ends on Sunday, October 6th at 11:59 pm CST.

For more info & to join the read-a-thon, visit the posts HERE & HERE.

For me & my time zone, as always, that means it starts on Monday, September 30th at 7 am & ends on Monday, September 7th at 6:59 am.

I'll post my updates on this post as I read for the read-a-thon.

On Twitter we (read-a-thoners) will use the hashtag #FrightFall.

 

My Reading Plans:

Ok, so these last couple of months I haven't been really reading or blogging, so I have no idea how much I'll read for this read-a-thon, but I hope I'll read 3 books this week, not counting the already started ones.

So, here are some of the books that I'll choose to read from for the read-a-thon:
 

 

Update #1:

1. Previously Started Books Read - 2 :

- The Enchanter Heir (The Heir Chronicles #4) by Cinda Williams Chima

- Taste Test by Kelly Fiore

2. Short Stories Read - 3 :

- Dead to Me (The Heir Chronicles #3.5) by Cinda Williams Chima

- Zero Tolerance (A Joe Ledger story) by Jonathan Maberry

- Deep, Dark (A Joe Ledger story) by Jonathan Maberry

3. Books Read - 1 :

- The Hollow City by Dan Wells

4. Currently Reading - 1 :

- The Marbury Lens (The Marbury Lens #1) by Andrew Smith

5. My Read-a-Thon Thoughts So Far:

- From everything that I read so far, only Taste Test doesn't fit the read-a-thon theme, but I really needed a break while reading The Marbury Lens (that's one disturbing & intense book). Everything else fits the theme. Since I'm around 40% done with my current read, and my goal is to read 3 books, I guess I can say I'm halfway there, and hopefully I'll complete my goal in time. 

  
  

Update #2:

 

 1. Books Read (since my last update) - 2 :

- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (audio book)

- The Outside (The Hallowed Ones #2) by Laura Bickle

2. Total Number of Books Read: 3

3. Currently Reading - 1 :

- The Marbury Lens (The Marbury Lens #1) by Andrew Smith

4. My Read-a-Thon Thoughts So Far:

- And of course, even with a reading list of 9 books, I had to stray from it ;) I listened to the audio book of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I mean, I planned to listen to it some time soon, but not now for the read-a-thon, but since that day I couldn't read, and I could listen, I decided to start it, and of course, as always when it comes to Neil Gaiman, once I started it, I couldn't stop until I finished it. I also read The Outside, too, so now I completed my goals, but I still hope to finish The Marbury Lens before the end of the read-a-thon, as well as to participate on the Twitter chat on Sunday.   

  
 
 Wrap Up:

I did great for this read-a-thon, I completed my goals & read a lot.

From the previously started books, I finished:

  
I also started & finished:

  
And I also read 3 short stories:

 I also started & read over half, but didn't finish:

So, that's about it. The only thing from all of these that didn't fit the FrightFall theme was Taste Test, all the rest had some scary/supernatural factor in them.

I'd like to thank Michelle for hosting this read-a-thon again, so THANK YOU, Michelle!!!

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

 

Conquest

(The Chronicles of the Invaders, #1)

by

John Connolly & Jennifer Ridyard

Publication date:

September 26th, 2013

   

   

The Earth has been invaded by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilized, yet ruthless alien race. Humanity has been conquered, but still it fights the invaders. The Resistance grows stronger, for it is the young people of Earth who are best equipped to battle the Illyri.

Syl Hellais, conceived among the stars, is the oldest alien child on Earth, the first to reach sixteen years of age. Her father rules the planet. Her future is assured. And Syl has hidden gifts, powers that even she does yet fully understand.

But all is not as it seems. The Illyri are at war among themselves, and the sinister Nairene Sisterhood has arrived on Earth, hungry for new blood. When Syl helps a pair of young Resistance fighters to escape execution, she finds herself sentenced to death, pursued by her own kind, and risks breaking the greatest taboo of her race by falling in love with a human.

Now the hunter has become the hunted, the predator become prey.
 And as Syl is about to learn, the real invasion has not yet even begun...

 

Fearsome Dreamer

(Fearsome Dreamer, #1)

by

Laure Eve

Publication date:

October 3rd, 2013

  

There is a world where gods you’ve never heard of have wound themselves into hearts, and choice has led its history down a different path.

This is a world where France made a small, downtrodden island called England part of its vast and bloated empire.

There are people here who can cross a thousand miles with their minds. There are rarer people still who can move between continents in the blink of an eye.

These people are dangerous.

And wanted. Desperately wanted.

Apprentice hedgewitch Vela Rue knows that she is destined for more. She knows being whisked off from a dull country life to a city full of mystery and intrigue is meant to be. She knows she has something her government wants, a talent so rare and precious and new that they will do anything to train her in it.

But she doesn’t know that she is being lied to. She doesn’t know that the man teaching her about her talent is becoming obsessed by her, and considered by some to be the most dangerous man alive...

 

 

What are you waiting for this week?

 

Leave me your WoW links!