Teaser Tuesday (March 12)

What is teaser tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.

"Lady Waynwood turned away from him. 'Best take us to your father, Alayne. The sooner we are done with this, the better.'"

-A Feast for Crows, Page 481, by George R. R. Martin

Seriously, I should not start these books when I have a bajillion that I need to be reading and reviewing. They're long, but I draw them out because the 6th book won't be out for a couple more years. 

Stacking the Shelves (March 9)

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews! It's a way to highlight the books that everyone got throughout the week.

For Review: 

Spies and Prejudice by Talia Vance

Fields’ Rule #1: Don’t fall for the enemy.

Berry Fields is not looking for a boyfriend. She’s busy trailing cheaters and liars in her job as a private investigator, collecting evidence of the affairs she’s sure all men commit. And thanks to a pepper spray incident during an eighth grade game of spin the bottle, the guys at her school are not exactly lining up to date her, either. 

So when arrogant—and gorgeous—Tanner Halston rolls into town and calls her “nothing amazing,” it’s no loss for Berry. She’ll forget him in no time. She’s more concerned with the questions surfacing about her mother’s death. 

But why does Tanner seem to pop up everywhere in her investigation, always getting in her way? Is he trying to stop her from discovering the truth, or protecting her from an unknown threat? And why can’t Berry remember to hate him when he looks into her eyes? 

With a playful nod to Jane Austen, Spies and Prejudice will captivate readers as love and espionage collide.

Published by EgmontUSA
Release Date: June 11, 2013

The Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison

Ailsbet loves nothing more than music; tall and red-haired, she's impatient with the artifice and ceremony of her father's court. Marissa adores the world of her island home and feels she has much to offer when she finally inherits the throne from her wise, good-tempered father. The trouble is that neither princess has the power--or the magic--to rule alone, and if the kingdoms can be united, which princess will end up ruling the joint land? For both, the only goal would seem to be a strategic marriage to a man who can bring his own brand of power to the throne. But will either girl be able to marry for love? And can either of these two princesses, rivals though they have never met, afford to let the other live?

Published by Egmont USA
Release Date: May 14, 2013

Purchased: 


A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire 5) by George R. R. Martin

The synopsis contains MAJOR spoilers, so I will not be posting it (I wouldn't do that to you). 

Teaser Tuesday (February 26)

What is teaser tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.

"Sam did not know how long it had been since last he'd slept, but scarce an inch remained of the fat tallow candle he'd lit when starting on the ragged bundle of loose pages that he'd found tied up in twine. He was beastly tired, but it was hard to stop."
-A Feast for Crows, page 101, by George R. R. Martin

Well, I finally gave in and started reading it. I'd been trying to hold off since this is book four, book five has been released, but I anticipate another year or two until book six is published (sobs). Plus, this quote is a great example of how I feel when I get sucked into a book.

In Defense of Sansa Stark

Sorry Sansa, I didn't mean it! 

It wasn't that long ago that I posted a mini-review of A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. In that review I referred to the fact that I found Sansa Stark to be the most annoying character everrrr omg! Well, I've finished the third book in the series (and two seasons of the show) and I've had some time to think about what exactly set me off about her character, why so many other people dislike her, and what it means to be a feminine character in a fantasy series.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that Sansa is in her very early teens at the start of this series. She's naive to the ways of court, and what people are really driven to do in their search for power. She still believes in the stories of the handsome gentle knight, and can't see when she's being manipulated. Her younger sister, Arya, fulfills the role of the "female badass". She's strong, brave, and she defies the gender-stereotypes of her time. When I compared Arya to Sansa...well, of course I liked Arya more.

It took me a while, but I finally figured out what it was about Sansa (and potentially other feminine fantasy characters) that I had a problem with. In the first book, Sansa represents everything that I feel that I am. She's not always aware of what's going on around her, and can't see the true nature of people. Arya, on the other hand, is the character that I want to be. She may be stubborn, but she's powerful and is keenly aware of the true nature of the people around her. Mind blown. Of course, I can't say that everyone feels this way. I just know that I've always liked the story of Mulan more than Sleeping Beauty. So, I've got my own stereotypes to deal with.

Now, if I had just waited a couple of books before passing judgement (I should have just listened to Jenny) I would have found that Sansa's character shows a different kind of strength. She's a resilient character (forced to face some truly horrible stuff), and I look forward to seeing her story in the final books of the series.


*Photo of Sansa from http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/

Mini-Reviews

Lately I've had the chance to read quite a few books, so I thought I'd post some mini-reviews for the week. In other exciting news, I'll actually be reviewing C. J. Omololu's new book Transcendance and hosting a short interview with her in July! As some of you will remember, I absolutely loved her book Dirty Little Secrets. So, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to read her newest novel. On to the reviews (:

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire Book 1) by George R. R. Martin

Yes, I finally hopped onto this bandwagon. I'm not typically one to pick up large fantasy books, but the television show hooked me. Once I started this book, I found that I couldn't stop. During the week that I read the book, I found myself staying up until three or four in the morning just to see what was going to happen to the characters. I've been told not to get too attached to the characters, but for the most part I have failed at that (except for you, Sansa...). Martin does a great job of showing that his characters shouldn't be labelled good/bad. A great example of this is Tyrion, the dwarf son of the Lannister family. He is funny, and does show some genuine kindness to Bran. At the same time, however, he's doing things for his own best interests.

Rating: A

Surrender (Haunting Emma 3) by Lee Nichols *some slight spoilers below

I've really enjoyed this trilogy, but something about this final book felt different from the first two. I'm not sure if it was the pacing, or if it had just been too long since I had read the second in the series, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped that I would. In terms of the story, everything is wrapped up in a satisfying way. I was glad to see the old characters that I loved (i.e. Coby), and we got to meet some new and interesting characters. Nichols made the relationship between Emma and Bennett strained as he continued to use a drug to enhance his power. I appreciated Emma more as she struggled to prepare herself to take on Neos while also worrying about those around her. Still, I feel that I had a really different reading experience when comparing this book to the previous two.

Rating: C+

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

This was another books that I enjoyed some aspects of, but it didn't quite meet my expectations. I'll start with what I liked, Angelini did a great job with the Greek mythology aspect. The plot is, for lack of a better word awesome! I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that there have been quite a few mythology-related books on the shelves lately, and hers was extremely unique. On the other hand, sometimes I was extremely annoyed with Helen. She wants to control her own destiny, which is awesome...but in some scenes it felt like she was having severe mood swings. The occasional breakdown, I get that. She's learning about her past, experiencing horrifying things, and even has her life threatened. I just think that I would have connected with her better had there been less of this happening. There's also a two plots regarding why Helen and Lucas can't be together. The first is a part of the overarching plot regarding mythology, and this worked well. The second reason I felt was unnecessary, and it has been done before. I don't want to give anything away here, so I'm going to write about it and for those that have read the book (or don't mind being spoiled), you can highlight. The possible siblings storyline has been done. I know that it's supposed to add a dramatic reason why the characters can't be together...but the reader finds out that this isn't true before the book ends. I thought it could have been easily eliminated from the story without losing anything.   I will pick up the sequel, though.

Rating: C

Wildefire by Karsten Knight

I tend not to write about books that get lower than a C rating, but I decided to write a short blurb here explaining why this one didn't click with me. So, it again deals with mythology, but I just didn't like the main character, Ash. I found her to be annoying, and extremely ungrateful at the beginning of the book, and I don't think I was able to overcome that. It was pretty clear that she needed some anger management as Ash beats the girl who hooked up with her boyfriend. SO, because I had no empathy for the character, I don't think I was that interested in her story. I do know people who have liked the book, particularly one friend who was actually surprised that I didn't like it. Alas, it was not to be.

Rating:D+

Spell Bound (Hex Hall 3) by Rachel Hawkins

Be still my heart! I'll admit it, I cried at the end of this one. I, like many people, absolutely loved this series. Waiting after the cliffhanger from the second book in this series was painful, and I found this book to be a great ending (I know that some people felt differently). Yes, the battle at the end of the book was short, but I don't need a long drawn-out battle to satisfy me. The build-up, uncovering of the real plan, and getting to see Hex Hall again were enough for me. This definitely had a different feel from the first two, it felt more serious. Somehow (not revealing how, see what I did there?) the students return to Hecate Hall, and the school is falling apart at edges. In a way, it was the perfect representation to how serious things were for Sophie. Now, Rachel Hawkins just needs to release a new book ASAP

Rating: B+

Crossed by Ally Condie

You know, I actually liked this one quite a bit more than I liked Matched. It still had some of the same issues with world building that the first had (I would have liked more), but this book felt more interesting to me. I think that for the first time Cassia gets to see what life is like beyond what she's known, even beyond the Outer Provinces. It will definitely be interesting to see what Condie does with the final book in the series, Reached.

Rating: B