Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black. (Goodreads)

This is definitely one of the more interesting vampire novels I've ever read. In this novel, the vampire epidemic was spread by one vampire who moved from major city to major city, turning humans. Flash forward, the world now knows of the existence of vampires and have quarantine the major towns where the spread began calling them Coldtowns, their vampires, infected humans, and anyone who thinks becoming a vampire would be cool (because we all know those people exist) are locked away to create communities of their own. 

Tana woke up after an over night party to death... everywhere. She saves her infected (which means he's going to turn into a vampire or turn cold) and a random vampire chained to the floor. While trying to escape she is injured and fears that she may be infected as well. They journey together to the nearest Coldtown where poor Tana is swept into various sorts of trouble.

Tana, I liked her. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was listening to the audio book, but I was a fan. I was a fan because unlike many heroines she seemed very real. Did she accomplish things that normal people never would? Yes. Did she throw herself into stupid situations? Yes. However, she admits to her fears and... it may be a stretch some time but I feel like a lot of the stupid situations she put herself in, she did for good reason... most of them.





Gavriel. What can I say there. I like his character. As much as I like cuddly vampires (insert Jeaniene Frost here) I like the Gavriel was raw, dangerous, and real. Or as real as vampires can be. 




Oh, and before I forget, thank you Holly Black for the character of Valentina. I'm not sure it I've ever read a book with an openly trans character. Every time I see something like this I applaud the literary world for taking steps toward equality. #weneeddiversebooks


I freaking love the ending. I can't tell if there's suppose to be a second book. As much as I want one to read more about all of these amazing characters, I'm not sure if there should be a second book. I like letting my imagination run wild.

Waiting on Wednesday - The Fall

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.

Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.

In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.

Release Date: October 7, 2014
~*~*~

I'm a fan of Poe, I can get behind this!

Teaster Tuesday- The Secrets of Lily Grave

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

"The call that changed everything came the following afternoon while I was crammed into a casket, up to my eyeballs in white eyelet."

Pg. 17 The Secrets of Lily Graves by Sarah Strohmeyer

Making up for Monday #9

Making Up for Monday is a weekly meme hosted by An Avid Reader, A Wannabe Writer

This weeks question: Are there any books that made you angry? If so why?

Kill me Softly bu Sarah Cross, I had such high hopes, and it just fells short in every way that I could have imagined. I wrote a review and gave it 2 stars.

Skype chat with Brandy Colbert

When I get a long e-mail from a 14 year old girl ranting and raving about a Skype chat an hour after it's over, I know it was successful.

Wednesday at 4:30 EST I began a Skype chat with Brandy Colbert author of Pointe (her debut novel). The book was great, but meeting Brandy herself was even better. There were, of course, technical difficulties, but our tech person (who'd also read the book) was right there giving it her all, and eventually we got things straightened out. The first portion of out time with Brandy was spent with me typing questions fired off by teens behind me, and her verbally responding to us. When we finally got our mic up and running we were all able to talk together.

The teens were asking questions such as:
Was Donovan gay?
Why ballet?
Was it hard being an adult writing as a teen?
What made you want to write a book with this particular subject matter?
What are some of your favorite books?

There were also statements such as:
Poor Theo.
We hate Chris.
Tell us more about Hosea.

This why, by far, one of my most successful programs of the summer and I'm so glad Brandy agreed to meet with us this way. It's a true testament to technology that a room full of people in CT were able to speak with an author in LA. Bravo Skype.

If anyone is reading this and they haven't read Pointe, shame on you. Go to your local library and acquire it ASAP.

I'm Doing A Skype Chat with Brandy Colbert!!

 

I'm not sure if any of you read my review of Pointe by Brandy Colbert back in May. I loved the book. I though it was amazing. My review was short but that was because I felt so much I wasn't sure how to put everything into words that made sense anywhere outside of my brain.

Anyway, as you all know I work in a library, so after I finished the book, I found Brandy's website and sent her a message asking if she would be willing to do a Skype chat with my book club. She actually responded and said yes. I was so shocked and excited. The chat is later today and I can't wait to learn more about this amazing debut author. I want to know when she began writing, what it was like writing her first book, where the ideas for Pointe came from, and any other random bits of information she can offer.

Tune in tomorrow to hear about the chat. I'll be ranting and raving about it, I'm sure. If haven't read the book yet, shame on you. Go do that now.

Oh and here's her website!

Teaser Tuesday- Homicide in Hardcover

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

"I laughed. 'As long as you don't deal with those deep dark feelings inside, you've got no business criticizing anything I do.' She pointed her finger at me and gave it a shake. 'I have every right in the world to try and talk you out of getting yourself killed.' "

Pg. 142 Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle

Making Up For Monday #8

Making Up for Monday is a weekly meme hosted by An Avid Reader, A Wannabe Writer

This weeks question: Do you typically agree or disagree with critics? Or are you somewhere in the middle?

I try not to pay much attention to critics. I don't want someone else's opinion to subconsciously sway my own. That being said, I do follow a lot of blogs and depend of them for book recommendations and the like, but I feel like there's a difference between someone who identifies as a critic, and someone who reads books and gives their opinion. I guess that puts me at somewhere in the middle.

Feature and Follow Friday #15

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Question of the Week: Post a funny Youtube video (doesn't have to be book related).

I love the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. If you haven't watched them, you really should. It's a modern day web adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.Everyone should watch and love this with me.

Review: Fan Art by Sarah Tregay

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pub. Date: June 17, 2014
Format: Paper back
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, LGBT
Source: Sent by Publisher

When the picture tells the story…

Senior year is almost over, and Jamie Peterson has a big problem. Not college—that’s all set. Not prom—he’ll find a date somehow. No, it’s the worst problem of all: he’s fallen for his best friend.

As much as Jamie tries to keep it under wraps, everyone seems to know where his affections lie, and the giggling girls in art class are determined to help Jamie get together with Mason. But Jamie isn’t sure if that’s what he wants—because as much as Jamie would like to come clean to Mason, what if the truth ruins everything? What if there are no more road trips, taco dinners, or movie nights? Does he dare risk a childhood friendship for romance?

This book is about what happens when a picture reveals what we can’t say, when art is truer than life, and how falling in love is easy, except when it’s not. Fan Art explores the joys and pains of friendship, of pressing boundaries, and how facing our worst fears can sometimes lead us to what we want most. (Goodreads)

I can't remember how I wound up with an ARC of this book, I think I won a contest, I don't know, but thank goodness I did.

Jamie, this poor kid. He's in love with his best friend Mason, they've known each other since they were in the third grade, and although Mason's come out of the closet to his mom and step-father (which is cool and new), he hasn't told anyone else. He realizes, almost jarringly, the feelings that he has for Mason and everything begins to fall apart. Everything gets worse however, when Mason begins to fight for a graphic short that is submitted to the literary magazine that he is a part of, he wants it submitted, but other members of the magazine worry about parents and funding because the romantic characters in the short are two boys. Jamie begins to find it harder and harder to be around Mason and worry's himself almost sick when he thinks about coming out to him.  It was driving me crazy. I can't say that I understand how hard it is to have to explain your sexual orientation to someone, because I have no idea, so I'm not going to judge it, I don't have that right, but I guess I just wish Jamie had enough confidence in his friendship with Mason to tell him the truth, it would have saved the kid so much stress.

Mason, we actually don't see a lot of him. We know that his home life isn't the easiest because he had a MAJOR issues with some of the decisions that his father has made. I have to say that I wish Mason's home life had been fleshed out more. We see a bit of his brother and sister who actually seem to be pretty cool, and we see even less of his mother. It made it harder for me to connect with Mason. We saw just enough of Jamie's parents to be satisfied, but we were left hanging with Mason, which made the end of the book a littler harder to connect with.

Eden, not sure what to say about her. She became an important character in the book, kind of Jamie's confidant, but... I just couldn't connect with her, I was almost there, but not quite. I think a part of that comes from not really getting to know her home life and past (similarly to with Mason). I think part of that problem arises from the fact that the book is told from Jamie's point of view so we can't hop into her world. I don't know. I liked her and everything, but it was rather *blah*.

I will say that i kind of got tired of reading the words "art geek girls" it was amusing at first, then it kind of got irritating, but that was all made up for how Jamie stood up and did what he had to do in the literary magazine, and a few lines that I loved from the book. "I study the laces on my Converse, how they've gone gray near the eyelets. I wonder how much string I'll need to tie up the hole in my heart." and "He stands there, dripping rainwater like tears on the title," and "In the middle of the shittiest day of you goddamned life you pulled my graduation tassel out of the trashcan?" Those were a few lines that resonated with me, and it helps to balance out some of my other issues. Over all the book was pretty good even though looking at my review it may not sound like it. I think this is another book that falls under, good for reluctant readers, but it's didn't quite hit all of my buttons, so I give it 4 stars, because I know this book can be amazing for the right kind of reader.

Waiting on Wednesday- Of Scars and Stardust

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

After her little sister mysteriously vanishes, seventeen-year-old Claire Graham has a choice to make: stay snug in her little corner of Manhattan with her dropout boyfriend, or go back to Ohio to face the hometown tragedy she's been dying to leave behind.

But the memories of that night still haunt her in the city, and as hard as she tries to forget what her psychiatrist calls her "delusions," Claire can't seem to escape the wolf's eyes or the blood-speckled snow. Delusion or reality, Claire knows she has to hold true to the most important promise she's ever made: to keep Ella safe. She must return to her sleepy hometown in order to find Ella and keep her hallucinations at bay before they strike again. But time is quickly running out, and as Ella's trail grows fainter, the wolves are becoming startlingly real.

Now Claire must deal with her attraction to Grant, the soft-spoken boy from her past that may hold the secret to solving her sister's disappearance, while following the clues that Ella left for only her to find. Through a series of cryptic diary entries, Claire must unlock the keys to Ella's past—and her own—in order to stop another tragedy in the making, while realizing that not all things that are lost are meant to be found.

Release Date: October 8, 2014

The description says it all. I can't wait to get my hands on this. 

Teaser Tuesday- Sins of the Father

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

"Gwen, nose no longer bleeding, stood up with fingers extended and palms down. Michelle examined Gwen's finger nails. What she noticed were abnormally dense fingernails that had been crudely cut."

Pg. 41 Sins of the Father by Thelonious Legend

Making Up For Monday #7

Making Up for Monday is a weekly meme hosted by An Avid Reader, A Wannabe Writer

This weeks question: Have you ever read a self help book? If so, did it actually help?

I have read a self help book, on fact I've read two. The first was He's Just Not That Into you ( I was surprised that was in the self help section). I wouldn't say that it really helped me, because I didn't need the help. I just wanted to read it after I watched the movie, I will say, that I know some people who need to add that book to their shelves ASAP. The second book I read was called What Color is Your Parachute, and it's about finding a career and understanding life. It's a book that tells you it's okay to decided to change careers and it's okay if you're not sure what you want to do with you life but here are so helpful tips to assist you in figuring it out. In fact after I read that book I decided to look into library school. Although grad school is... kind of a issue, I love working in libraries, so yeah, that book did help me!!

Feature and Follow #14

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee.

Sorry guys I posted next weeks question on accident so here's this weeks question.

 

Question of the Week: If you had a time machine (i.e. TARDIS), where would you go?

 

I would go to the future. So I can be a crew member on Serenity and fly with Malcolm Reynolds and Jayne, I love Jayne. That was I get to be in the future with space ships and stuff, but we also get suspender and boots like we were in the wild wild west.

Review: Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

 
 Publisher: Atria Books
Pub. Date: March 18, 2014
Format: ebook
Genre: New Adult, Romance
Source: Nook
At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one… (Goodreads)

I learn about this book reading a review that one of the bloggers I follow wrote. I can't remember who wrote the review, and I could kick myself for not making a note of it because this was a good book.

FINALLY A BOOK WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER!!!!!!!!! IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!

So basically, we have a girl Sydney who has left her roommate and her apartment because she found out her roommate was sleeping with her boyfriend. How did she find this out you ask, the guy who lived across the courtyard told her. How did they meet, he could tell that she was making up lyrics to the songs he was writing on the balcony (for his brothers band) and needed to know what they were because he had writers block (btw he could see her mouthing the words). So the guys name is Ridge and he tells Sydney about the boyfriend and roommate, Sydney sits outside with a suitcase and no where to go. She winds up in the apartment with Ridge and his two roommates until she can find somewhere to go. Now at this point, we can already tell that not only was Sydney not all that interested in her relationship with the crappy boyfriend, but she's developed a small crush on Ridge as she watched him write songs on his guitar on the balcony.

Okay, plot twist,<spoiler> Ridge is deaf. I've never read a book with a deaf character, I was so shocked when I read those words that I just kind of read them over and over and over and over. For some reason it made me feel more, my feels went crazy. As we read and Ridge and Sydney work together writing songs you can feel the tension, they both seem to really care for each other.

Plot twist, he has a girlfriend. After learning this little tid bit of information, as well as how strong of a history Ridge and his girlfriend have, we're not sure what to do. I wanted Ridge and Sydney to be together because it was obvious that Ridge cared for her, but he said from the very beginning that he wouldn't leave her.</spoiler> We watch as Ridge and Sydney literally talk about their feelings for each other and try to fight them. It was amazing, as much as I wanted to see their relationship work, it was an entirely new experience watching people try to resist their reactions to each other.

I've already released some spoilers, and I wont say how it ends, but this book was so much better than I was prepared for, this is another one of the few books I give a 5.

Teaser Tuesday- The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers!

My Teaser

"There she sat, at the bottom of the basement. As spiders crawled over her hands."

Part 1 Chapter 4 The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Books n' Blogger swap reveal

 I'm so sorry for the late posting. My computer has been in the shop so I haven't been able to do much but retweet things. Anyway, the book and blogger swap is hosted by Chaotic Goddess, and this was my first time doing it. I was partnered with Sara from The Rooster and the Sunflower, and you all should go check out her site ASAP. 

Here's what I got from Sarah.

She loved Bared to you (I read it after she sent it to me and I must say that I do too).
She wants to read The Secrets of Lily Graves
And she sent me Plus One from my list.

She also sent me a book mark of 50 books to read before you die, and a beautiful Journal which I will get a lot of use out of.

This swap was amazing, I can't wait to participate in another one!!