Waiting on Wednesday: Deliverance

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

This week, what's really got my pages in a twist is...

Deliverance

C.J. Redwine

(Courier’s Daughter #3)

Publication Date: August 26, 2014

Hardcover, 480 pages, Balzer + Bray

Genres: Fantasy, Dystopian, Young Adult

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Everything hangs in the balance, and nothing is certain: Rachel has been kidnapped by enemy forces and is being taken to Rowansmark while Logan, imprisoned and awaiting trial, is unable to leave Lankenshire. Separated from each other and their Baalboden comrades, each must find a way to achieve what they desperately want: to rid their world once and for all of the Commander and the tech that controls the deadly Cursed One.

Fighting through her pain and embracing the warrior she’s become, Rachel will do whatever it takes to escape her enemies’ clutches and join Logan in his fight. But when she learns a secret that changes everything, she realizes that escaping Ian and his tracker friends is no longer an option if she wants to save the people she loves. Instead, she’ll have to destroy Rowansmark from the inside out—if she can survive the journey through the Wasteland.

Logan needs allies if he wants to thwart Rowansmark’s power grab and rescue Rachel. But securing allies will mean betraying his beliefs and enlisting the help of the man he hates more than anyone: Commander Jason Chase. Driven by his fierce love for Rachel and his determination to make their world safe, Logan may be just the weapon the city-states need to defeat the Cursed One.

But as Rowansmark bears down and uneasy alliances are tested, will Rachel and Logan’s love for each other be enough to surmount the unbelievable odds against them?

My Thoughts

Logan is mine. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is. This book will show the entire world that Logan belongs to me, not Rachel. But anyway, yeah… This book, needs to be in my chubby little hands right the frick now.

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday?

Review: The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz

The Dark World

Cara Lynn Shultz

(The Dark World #1)

Publication Date: May 27, 2014

Hardcover, 384 pages, Harlequin Teen

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

Paige Kelly is used to weird--in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn't fazed by Paige's propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she'll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that's overrun by demons-and she might never make it home.

My Review

A book about a hunky, demon-slaying boy belongs on my bookshelf. Especially when that boy’s name is Logan. The Dark World definitely delivers with its mix of smexy boy and sarcastic humor.

The Dark World immediately gets into the thick of things. There’s no long introduction to Paige’s world. And right off the bat you learn that she can talk to ghosts, but that information isn’t just handed over. It’s revealed in a unique, and somewhat shocking, way. There were a lot of other loopholes and plot developments that weren’t predictable and that, when revealed, were mind-boggling.

Paige as a character is pretty cool. She’s actually a person, unlike some other YA books' main characters out there nowadays. She has an obsession with pink and frilly pens (I loved this!), her parents aren’t just in the book to be there, they actually have roles to play, and she reacts to situations in a fairly normal manner. I can’t for sure know that her reactions would be realistic, simply because I’ve never been attacked by demons and saved by a hawt boy before, but I’ll sign up for that life any day if it means having me someone like Logan to keep me safe. Logan is basically a cuddle-able (totally not a word, but Logan deserves to have many words made up about his awesomeness) razor blade. He’s all soft and gooey and sweet, but sometimes, he can just be plain ol’ deadly. I’ve added another fictional boyfriend to my extremely long list after finishing this book. *sigh*

The relationship between Paige and Logan is so cute. They aren’t your average book couple. They’re awkward. Logan gets extremely flustered around Paige’s overprotective dad, and writes with her pretty pink pens just so he can talk to her. Paige talks in her sleep and awkwardly cries in front of Logan. Plus, they’ve known each other before all of this goes down. Meaning it isn’t a love/lust-at first-sight storyline. AND Paige asks a question that I wanted to jump up and down and clap at! She asks Logan about their relationship, and she even mentions that they’re young and still in high school. Hallelujah! This girl’s got her head firmly planted on her shoulders!

As mentioned earlier, the plotline of this book wasn’t as predictable as I thought it was going to be. Sure, the ending has something that I was hoping would happen, happen, but the way it was spun was different from what I had imagined. I really enjoyed how hard it was to guess what the heck was going on, without getting completely confused.

The bad guys in this book weren’t as bad as I was hoping they’d be. I wasn’t feeling them as much as the main characters. Hopefully they’ll be expanded on in the next book because I would love to explore the Dark World through some of the freaky things that bump their way around over there.

All in all, this was a great read. I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to picking up the sequel, whenever it comes out… I need a date Harlequin Teen! Please?!

*Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

A Bookish Questionnaire

I get really bored sometimes. And like most people, when I get bored I tend to browse the internet for random things. I decided to look up “Book Lover Quizzes” and I found quite a few. One was created by Heroic Endeavors and another was a meme on someone’s blog (I can’t find the original creator, but here’s the post I found it on). I mushed the questions together and got rid of some repeats to make this quiz thing you see below.

So, basically this post is just going to be me, answering book-related questions. Sounds fun, right?

*        Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack: 

No, I do not snack while I read. I paid a lot of money for my book, and getting crumbs and smudge marks on it will hurt my soul. I actually make myself stop reading when I want to eat.

*        What is your favorite drink while reading? 

I typically just have a bottle of water next to me when I read, otherwise I’ll forget that I have an ice cold soda, or a glass of milk next to me, and that just gets gross.

*        Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the thought of writing in books horrify you? 

Horrify! Terrify! Petrify! Marking in books should be a sin! Except evil textbooks, you can mark in those because no one cares.

*        Fiction, non-fiction, or both? 

FICTION. I sometimes forget non-fiction is even a thing.

*        Are you the type of person who tends to read to the end of the chapter, or can you stop anywhere?

I like to read to the end of a chapter, doesn’t mean I always will. If I need/want to stop in the middle of a page, I will. It doesn’t happen often, though.

*        Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or onto the floor if the author irritates you?

Nope. I paid for it and I would like to keep it damage-free. I will bang my head against something though (maybe even the book).

*        If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you look it up right away?

Hahahahahahahaha!!! How can someone do this!? I just keep flipping through. I’m not in school. If I don’t know the word, and it doesn’t impede my ability to understand the story, I’m not going to touch a dictionary, online or physical. Honestly, I don’t actually come across words that I’m unfamiliar with very often, at least, not in the YA genre.

*        What are you currently reading? 

I am currently reading a bajillion (3) different books: Whispers of the Fallen by J.D. Netto, Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong, and Mistwood by Leah Cypess.

Usually, if I’m in a reading slump, I’ll start reading a lot of books at one time until I find one that really captures my attention.

*        What is the last book you bought? 

The last books that I bought for myself were all really cheap on Book Outlet. They were The Essence by Kimberly Derting, Sever by Lauren DeStefano, and  Eternal by Kristi Cook.

*        Do you have a favorite time/place to read? 

Favorite time = any time. Although in the mornings my eyes are usually all wonky from sleep and they don’t appreciate trying to focus on words.

Favorite place = my bed or my couch. I’m kind of lazy when it comes to reading.

*        Do you prefer series or standalones? 

Series. If I like a book I want more of it.

*        Is there a specific book you find yourself recommending over and over?

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. It’s magic and butterfly kisses all wrapped up with an invisible bow (It’s also a standalone, so it makes my last answer look very stupid.).

*      How do you organize your books?

I have four bookshelves. Bookshelf #1 houses my YA paranormal/dystopian/fantasy hardcovers. Bookshelf #2 holds some more YA paranormal/dystopian/fantasy hardcovers, some hardcover and paperback mixed series, and my YA p/d/f paperbacks. Bookshelf #3 holds my contemporaries, books I need to read, middle-grade-ish fantasy books, and classics. Bookshelf #4 holds all of the stuff I can’t fit on #1-3 and my adult romance books that I hide from my parents, because ICK.

*        Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?

Hardback. They’re expensive, which sucks, but they’re also really pretty.

*        Amazon or brick and mortar?

Amazon. I hate saying that with all of the controversy, but I’m a college student, and it’s cheap(er).

*        Bookmark or dogear?

If someone dogeared my book, I’d probably murder them (Okay, I’d probably just never talk to them again.). Even random things are better than dogearing. Like right  now, I’ve got a receipt holding my place in one of my books.

*        Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?

I usually alphabetize by author.

*        Keep, throw away, or sell?

I tend to keep, which is going to suck monkey butt when I have to move out. Ugh.

*        Keep dustjacket or toss it?

Who throws away dustjackets?! That’s just rude!

*        Read with dustjacket or remove it?

Remove it, because dustjackets are usually a work of art, and I don’t want them harmed while I’m carrying around its insides.

*        Short story or novel?

Novel. Short stories tend to anger me (I want more!).

*        Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Is this honestly a question? I mean I enjoyed the A Series of Unfortunate Events books, but they can in no way compete with Harry Potter. Maybe if the question was something like Harry Potter vs. Narnia, or Harry Potter vs. The Lord of the Rings, then there would be an actual competition. (And Narnia would win them all!)

*        “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?

“Once upon a time.” It makes me want to read a fairytale.

*        Buy or borrow?

I should borrow, because like I said earlier, I’m a college student, and I’m broke. But, I buy, and I’m more broke.

*        New or used?

New. If it’s used and in good condition I’ll buy it, though.

*        Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?

All three. That’s why I own so many freaking books.

*        Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

Tidy ending. If I have to wait an entire year for the sequel, I tend to forget what happened in the previous book, so I don’t want to be thrown into the middle of a situation I don’t remember.

*        Favorite series?

Overall it would have to be The Chronicles of Narnia. I was obsessed with those books as a kid (And by kid I mean like 6 years ago.)  Harry Potter, Meg Cabot’s Mediator books, the Courier’s Daughter trilogy, and The White Rabbit Chronicles are some of my others.

*        Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

Defiance by C.J. Redwine and Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

*        Favorite books read last year?

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Deception by C.J. Redwine, Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter

And that completes this long bookish questionnaire. I hope you enjoyed my answers, and tell me what some of yours are down in the comments section. TTFN!