Sweet Sixteen IMM

So this weekend was special as I (Gina) turned Sixteen!!! I had a great weekend with Katie and My sister and the Twins (sister's best friends).
Katie slept for two nights and yesterday and today we went to the park and the lake which was so much fun until Chloe (twin 1) cut her foot open. Not cool.

But apart from that i also got some AMAZING books and presents. Of course i got clothes but the books are what made me very happy!! :D
So here we go...

Partials by Dan Wells (SO EXCITED TO READ THIS)
Illuminate by Aimee Agresti
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington (Such a pretty cover)
Torn by Amanda Hocking
Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Still Waters by Emma Carlson Berne
Once in a full moon by Ellen Schreiber
Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins (Unfortunately I dont have the first so i better get it soon)
A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton
Fated by Sarah Alderson

And Finally from Katie:

Cadbury Milk Tray (nomnom)
Dreaming Awake by Gwen Hayes
Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev


So all in all it was a great weekend.
And to top it all off we went to see The Hunger Games which was brilliant and exatcly the way i pictured it!! :D and the cinema said happy birthday to me with the screens they use to show what films are on :) I felt so loved!!

Review: Fracture by Megan Miranda

Reviewed by Gina

Date Read: March 1^st, 2012

Date Published: January 17^th, 2012

Publishers: Bloomsbury

Format: Paperback

Pages: 262

Blurb: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?
Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

Review: I fell in love with this book so much! It is paranormal and has supernatural undertones that I loved! It was different and kept me on my toes. There wasn’t anything I hated about this book.

Delaney Maxwell should technically be dead considering she was under the ice for 11 minutes. But somehow she miraculously survived and her best friend Decker pulled her out. But everything is different. At the hospital someone tried to kill her and she has no idea why. Then she realises that she is drawn to the dead and can’t stop once she starts going. Then she meets Troy who seems to share her ability. But he’s dark and dangerous and he scares her. She knows she should stay away but when she has no one to turn to that is easier said than done.
As soon as I read about this book I knew I had to have it. It sounded interesting and I am glad that it was a stand-alone novel because turning it into a series could have ruined it. Megan Miranda created characters that I loved, hated, laughed with and who I found just creepy. You go through a lot of emotions when reading this book and I connected with it.

Delaney wasn’t what I expected at all which was good. I loved reading from her point of perspective and the things she went through sometimes touched my heart. There was one bit where I actually cried because it pulled on my heart strings. Decker, her best friend, was great. Although he went back and forth a bit and sometimes I wanted to slap him I loved him! I liked Troy but I had negative feelings for him and he was a bit of a creep. His looks were what I expected but not his personality or story.

The ending of this novel was totally unexpected but that made it great. This book is unpredictable and I loved every second of it. Readers who love YA, a bit of paranormal and a whole lot of mystery should get their hands on this soon!

Rating: 5 stars!!

Review: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead

Reviewed by Gina

Date Read: February 28^th, 2012

Date Published: August 25^th, 2011

Publishers: Razorbill

Format: Paperback

Pages: 421

Blurb: When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.
Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive - this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.

Review: Wooowwww...I had no idea how much i actually missed the world that is Vampire Academy. Bloodlines was just as amazing as the original series and such a good book. I'm so excited for Golden Lily to be released now and that ending was great! I expected Bloodlines to be good because let's be fair, Richelle Mead is an AMAZING author, and in reality is was better than good. It was excellent and just as enjoyable as VA. It was definitely different seeing the world from Sydney's POV and not Rose's but i loved it anyway!

When Sydney, an Alchemist, is woken up at night she is told that she has an assignment. She is to protect Jill, the Queen's sister, as she is in mortal danger. Jill must go into hiding and Sydney is to keep her protected along with some familiar faces. Accompanying them are Eddie, the dhampir guardian, and Adrian Ivashkov, who has his own reasons for being with Jill. Together they go to Palm Springs where they are to wait out until the danger has passed. But even isolated things don't run smoothly. Danger is still there, even in other forms. Sydney's learnt to tolerate being around vampires but is spending everyday with them too much to ask of her?

I have to admit, that the plotline for this book was great. Richelle Mead has a way of creating amazing storylines that just flow perfectly and they always have lots of action and drama. I have to admit that i really did miss Rose, and her rose-logic, and the handsome Dimitri, but this book offered lots and i loved it all. Sydney is so different from Rose but i love reading from her point of view. She doesn't like vampires, or their abilities, so it was different but interesting. But as the story progressed she learnt that there is no good and evil, black and white, and that sometimes the lines blur, especially when it comes to Moroi. She learns to deal with situations that even some Moroi would struggle with. She also has an amazingly clever mind which i adored!

I was glad to see some familiar faces, as well as new ones. Adrian Ivashkov...He does make me chuckle. He is just so funny and snarky that you can't help but love him. I was so happy to find that he was in this series because i did love him in VA, I just loved Dimitri that little bit more, so it was good to have him here. There is definitely potential for a love triangle and i won't say who the other guy could be but i don't like the idea of Adrian having his heart broken. I think that later on in the series there will be something concerning a relationship between him and Sydney but i hope it works out because they would be cute together!

The shocks in this book....Boy, does Richelle know how to create amazing twists and turns. There was a major plotline that i guessed between Jill and Adrian, and there were others where i looked at the book and thought..."What the hell just happened?" That's what i love about Richelle Mead's books. They always surprise you.

I'm so glad that she decided to do a Spin-off series because even though it's not the real VA, it's pretty darn close, and i still got a bit of Rose (only five pages though which i hated because it was too short) but that ending....That sentence...."Dimitri Belikov had arrived"....So good and THAT is what has made me so excited for Golden Lily to come out. This book is great and once you finish VA you HAVE to get this because it is just as great!

Rating: 5 stars!!

Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Reviewed by Gina

Date Read: February 13^th, 2012

Date Published: January 31^st, 2012

Publishers: Katherine Tegan

Format: Hardback

Pages: 384

Blurb: New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies--human and creature alike--let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Review: Wow...this book is just...indescribable. When I turned the last page I thought...’the end...so soon?’ because it had a great ending. I haven’t read a book like this in such a long time and I enjoyed every page that I turned. I was drawn to this book by the cover because it is just beautiful. And I deciphered it which I am proud of but I wont ruin the surprise by telling, you can figure it out on your own!

When Ana was born a soul vanished and no one knew why. They say she is a nosoul and because of that her mother, Li, kept her away from society. But when Ana escapes her captivity she stumbles across Sylph, creatures made of shadows who burn, and she jumps into a lake. She thinks that will be her death but she is wrong. Sam saves her and she is surprised. Who would want to save the nosoul? She needs to go to Heart, the city where all civilisation is, to find out who she is and why she replaced one of the million reincarnated souls. Sam accompanies her and their relationship blossoms. Trouble is always waiting around a corner but how can you love someone if you don’t know they’ll live another life?

This world that Jodi has created is amazing. I love Fantasy books and this one was no exception. I have only ever read one other novel about reincarnation and that is The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams and I thought that was amazing....this book blew me away!! But the idea of having only a million souls reincarnated again and again fascinated me.

Ana was an amazing character who is funny, brave, and eager to try new things and I loved reading from her POV. This book is unexpected and even though I tried to guess what would happen it always caught me by surprise when something totally the opposite of what I thought happened. I felt sorry for her for having a horrible mother who didn’t care but Sam made up for that....Sam.....He makes my heart flutter a little. He’s a great guy with a big heart but a lot of mysteries. Some things happened I didn’t expect and some shocked me. But whatever happens this book is always good and captures your attention.

I mostly read this book in one sitting (apart from leaving for the necessities; toilet, food, drink, sleep for one night) and I literally couldn’t stop until I had finished. This book drew me in and I was left wanting more when I reached the end. So much happened in this book and I loved it all!! It’s creative, daring and Jodi Meadows did a fantastic job on the writing part!! I am yearning for more (and secretly another pretty cover).

Rating: 5 stars!!

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Reviewed by Gina

Date Read: February 12^th, 2012

Date Published: January 24^th, 2012

Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Blurb: Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.
She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen. As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

Review: Once I saw this cover I knew I had to read the blurb which sounded really interesting. I love Greek mythology so any book related to any Greek myths I must have! There’s a kinda love triangle and I really liked it but for some reason I didn’t love in like some others I’ve read.

Nikki Beckett has just re-Surfaced after spending six months in the Everneath with Cole, the immortal who took her there. But now that Nikki has joined her friends and family she has six months to say goodbye before the tunnels take her to a dark place where she will no longer feel a thing, where she will help keep the Everneath running, like a battery. Nikki is trying hard to reconnect with her old life but there is one person she must reconnect with the most, Jack her boyfriend. He is the person who kept her alive all those months and she doesn’t want to lose him. But Cole is determined to have her join him in the Everneath as one of the Everliving, what Cole is, but she can’t leave yet. She needs help to find the answers she is looking for and Jack is willing to help. But when time is counting down what words do you use to tell someone goodbye...for Ever?

Once I finished this I thought about it for a little while. Overall the story was good and the characters were enjoyable but I felt it lacking in something. I don’t really think it was as much of a Greek retelling as some books I’ve read. It was changed too much for me but I enjoyed the new concept. I must admit that jumping between the past and present did confuse me to start with but I liked seeing the two parts.

Nikki was a great character, even if she is depressed at the beginning of the book but who wouldn’t be? But as time goes on in the book she gets stronger and looks to Jack for warmth and safety. Jack was sweet and would do anything to help her even if it gets him in trouble. And the fact that he never stopped loving her shows how strong their love really is. Cole on the other hand....I didn’t know what to think of him. Sometimes he was okay and other times I just wanted to smack him. Overall he wasn’t a nice character.

I loved the Idea of the story and using people as Forfeits to help the Everlivings, the immortals, survive. I liked what Brodi did by creating the Daughters of Persephone and I am intrigued as to what will happen later in the series. And that ending....I had tears in my eyes and it is such a big cliff-hanger. I will be on the look out for the next book. But hopefully next time it will stay in the present a lot more. It doesn’t take a lot to confuse me.

Rating: 4 stars!!