Pledged Book Tour and Launch!

Great news guys! We've been included to participate in a book tour and launch on Pledged by Gwyneth White!

Here's the cover (which looks ah-mazing):



And the synopsis:

Everyone has a soul mate. But what do you do when your soul mate would rather give his soul to the demons than be with you?

Seventeen-year-old Erin has a problem. Seth has been hers forever, but now an ancient promise is tearing him away. And Reuel, the demon to whom the promise was made, will stop at nothing to force Seth to forsake Erin and to worship him.

How can Erin win against a pledge so binding that it has damned countless others to the same fate she and Seth will face if Reuel wins – an eternity alone?

The answer lies in the past. To find it, Erin and Seth must risk all, travelling back in time to a dangerous world where love is forbidden, and life – and death – hang on a promise.

Follow Erin and Seth as they travel to ancient Shenaya to break the pledge that has plagued their families for millennia. Caught in a war between the Angelic Guardians and the Gefallen, the disembodied dead, they must fight to keep their souls in tact and their love untainted.

And a little bit about the author:

I have spent my entire life living in a parallel universe of make-believe characters, only coming back to reality for long enough to check that no one burnt the house down in my absence. A few years ago I decided to commit some of those ‘friends’ and their stories to paper. The Soul Wars Saga is the result of those efforts. Before that I co-authored two non-fiction travel books – The Complete Guide to 4x4 Trails and The Ultimate 4x4 Guide. Both books became instant best-sellers in South Africa where I live. And before that even, I studied a degree in African History and Politics at the University of Stellenbosch. When I’m not writing, I am a wife to Andrew and a mom to Stephanie, Erin, and Kate, our teenage daughters. My family and I live in a small town outside Cape Town with two dogs, a cat, a horse, and some neglected fish. Now that you know a little about me, I would love to get to know you. Please befriend me at:

Twitter: @GwynnethWhite

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gwynneth-White/172095512890074

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7360328-gwynneth-white

Blog: http://todayinshenaya.blogspot.com

Email: gwynnethwhite@4xforum.com

***

We don't know about you but we're excited! Over the following months we'll be posting more about the release on this book including excerpts, trailers, interviews and the review before we host a giveaway for Pledged (and we know how much you love giveaways.

But, for the time being, we shall happy dance.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth- Review

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself-while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so. (blurb from Goodreads)

****

I think this book should come with a sticker at the front saying: WARNING: this book contains intense surprises and mind- blowing suspense and may cause extreme cases of tears, laughter and severe heart-beat rates. Because for me it SO did.



Which is to say that I loved this book. Maybe more than Divergent, actually. It totally exceeded all expectations I had and ended that reputation of the second book in trilogies being the worst.

One of the things I would like to applaud Veronica Roth for was how she wrote Tris and Tobias's relationship. After that absolutely gorgeous way the two of them got together, I was worried about how Roth would continue their relationship. The obvious easy thing to do would just pop pointless make-out sessions in there that would suggest that they were still going strong, but, like in the first book, I was glad that their relationship remained real. In this book, the Tris and Tobias's trust and loyalty of each other are tested. Secrets are kept, lies are told, and yet, the two still somehow keeps it together with their faith and belief of one another. I love the way Tobias believes so much of Tris that it pains me that he is only a fictional character. It really does.



Roth's characters remain as one of my favourites. They were fantastic, and full of personality and definitely believable. The only thing I disliked about the characters was the fact that, yes, Roth introduced many great characters, but she killed them off in half a second when I would've liked to get to know them more. You know when you are successful at character writing when your readers mourn your characters deaths.



I know that in the first book, most of us had problems of believing the world that Roth created; how would a world with only five virtues work? Well, most of the questions were answered for me in this book. Obviously not all of them. If that were the case there would be no need for a third book. :) In Insurgent we get to visit all of the factions (which was great; I was always curious about how the Amity headquarters looked like) and more and more was revealed about how, exactly, Tris's world became the way it is. Which means that there was a whole lot of action, suspense and drama, and I know how much you all love this sort of stuff. :)

So. The things I liked: Tris and Tobias's romance, the other characters (and their relationships with each other *shh, Uriah and Marlene*), more information about this world, the action, the drama, the suspense and the surprises. The things I didn't like: the sudden deaths of my (beloved) characters and the fact that I did not buy this book.

But the latter can be easily fixed. Off to the bookshop I go...

The Scorpio Races- Review

On the island of Thisby, the Scorpio Races occur on the beginning of every November where riders struggle to keep their waterhorses, or rather, capaill uisce, to the finish line.

Puck Connolly's parents have died from a capaill uisce attack. Now, her and her brothers live alone. Money is scarce, and with the eldest off to the mainland, they are in desperate need of money more than ever. She enters the race in attempt to win cash- and to keep her family together.

Sean Kendrick has won the races four times, and is predicted to win the next. Through the races, a romance blossoms between Puck and Sean, and he seems willing enough to help her win the money. The only thing is, Sean needs to win the races in order to save the thing he loves most in the world.


__________________________________


When I first heard that Maggie Stiefvater was going to write another book, I was like, "Yesh!!! Another book!!!". Then when I heard that the book was to contain water horses, I was basically like:



And then , I heard that The Scorpio Races had a romance in it, and I was like:



I MUST HAVE THIS BOOK!!!!

So after I issued this book out of the library, merrily skipped all the way home and channeled all quietness out of the room (which meant a whole lot of bribing to my sister) to experience the predicted awesomeness of The Scorpio Races , I sat down on the comfy Lazy-Boy and finally began to read.

As I read, I waited, and expected, and waited some more. But... nothing.

After a number of pages (and, some flicking to the back pages- one of my annoying traits, blossomed by my impatience), I realised that the whole book was just a build- up to the end, the actual Scorpio Races. And then I got annoyed. And sad. And disappointed.



And bored.

But this is the part where I want to applaud Maggie Stiefvater. Because without the way she has written Thisby and all the people that came with it, and, not to mention, the capaill uisce I wouldn’t have read on, and I wouldn’t have read the amazingness that is The Scorpio Races.

The way Stiefvater writes her characters, with so much soul and so much personality, it makes her characters seem so real. Every character, whether major or minor, seem like she's invested so much time in creating them, that they're effortlessly believable.

I have to say I liked Puck the best though. I liked her from the moment I read the part where she told Brian Carroll that she'd spit on his grave if he died. Enough said.

And Sean Kendrick.



Ah. His devotion to the horses and his love for Corr.... Lordy. Who does not want a guy like that?

The entertaining cast of characters would make every single reader welcome to Thisby, despite the warning of killer water horses. I could actually go on about the characters for forever, but I won't and instead I shall move on to the world building.

Sweet and short, the world building was perfect. Thisby is... comfy to me, and living there would make me very certain about what I'd do every single day. I'd go to mass in St Columba's with Father Mooneyham then go have lunch at Palsson's then look around at Fathom and Sons. Which is to say, while reading The Scorpio Races , I felt like I lived there.

In conclusion- ooh. I sound like I'm writing an essay for English-, the charming characters and the spot on world building over-powered the- what would otherwise be a boring- build up to the Scorpio Races. So, according to the Goodreads rating system, I "really liked it".

I'd also like to say that I am quite upset that there is no sequel to this book. Would very much like to know what happens to Puck and Sean and Finn and George Holly. Please, Maggie! I want a sequel!!

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor- Review

Karou lives two lives. She is a normal art student in Prague who is known from her detailed sketches of  chimaera. Most people think these drawing come just from her imagination, but little do they know that they are the ones who have raised her as a child, the closest thing she has to a family. Because Karou also lives her life as an errand girl in 'Elswhere'  for a chimaera that collects teeth, known as Brimstone.

Then black handprints appear on the doors of many everywhere in the world and Karou is suddenly cut off from 'Elswhere'. As Karou tries to return to her only family, she also finds many answers she'd asked from her past.
_______________________________________


Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

That was some pretty intense stuff I just read.

This was basically what was going on in my head while I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone :

The excitement


Then...

The confusion


Then...

The frustration


And Then...

There were tears


Over and over again, especially towards the end. Oh, the bitter and tragic end!!! Brimstone!!! Are you dead? Is Issa dead?? Yasri? Twiga? Are they really dead or just stuck in 'Elsewhere'? The confusion! The frustration! The tears!

And the cycle goes on again....

Breath, Ela. Calm down. You need to write something productive.

Okay. Let's try this again.

...

Now that my brain has recovered from its brief moment of delirium, I want to warn people that this book contains Instalove.

What?!? you say. Is it... deadly?

Well, no, actually, it wasn't deadly. In fact, I didn't bother me at all.

Whaaat?!?!

Okay, I lied. Yes, fine, it did bother me, but only in the beginning. Naturally, when Akiva and Karou first laid eyes on each other and confessed their unexplanatory love, it practically stabbed me in the heart, with me being an Instalove hater and all. I mean, up until that point, I thought the book had a fantabulous story. I would've stopped reading, I think, because it just got so unrealistic and rushed. But I wanted to know what had happened to  Brimstone (and Zuzanna helped too; she remained as funny as ever during these parts).

I just realise now that I've been blackmailed. I kept reading because of Brimstone, and I never actually find out what happened to him, just a "They're dead" from Akiva. I don't believe the guy though. I want to hope for the best.

Sneaky Laini Taylor....

Anyways, the Instalove matter was resolved in the end and there was actually a fairly legit reason why it had to take place (unlike the other Instalove cases out there where their reasons are just rubbish).

Which brings me to my next point:

When things get too boring, or too rushed or too.... Instalovey, do not stop. Keep reading and you shall be rewarded.

Yes, this is true. You have no idea how confused I was during the middle of the book, especially during the change from Karou to Madrigal. I was actually pondering the three star rating I was going to give this book, not once, but several times. But I read on, again in pursuit of the knowledge for Brimstone. When I finally got to the end, the story felt whole. I wasn't left with any questions (except for the Brimstone one I keep asking :D) and the story felt concluded.

So that is a lesson my dear readers, read on. Let the patience wash over you....

Moving on....

I loved all the characters. They were all unique and original and all relevant to the story. Karou was kick- ass. I loved that chick. I also liked Zuzanna especially. In the times when I got bored, or when things got to intense, Zuze always lightened up the mood with her humor and made me want to read on. I also loved the chimaera family. I love the way Brimstone loves and protects Karou. I found him annoying in the beginning, and it was only until the end, when I found out his deal with Madrigal and Karou that I understood him.

The world building was magnificent. In a space of only 400 or so pages, Taylor fit in not one, but two worlds, both Prague and Eretz (and 'Elsewhere' if you'd want to include that :D). And both of them were described very vividly and detailed, that I am very much impressed.

In the conclusion, I advise you fellow impatient readers to keep reading on although it my get confusing at times. You will not regret it. Promise :)

Blood Red Road Review

  Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

What we thought when we read the first line of Blood Red Road was, "woah, what the hell?!"
The sentence, "Lugh got born first", surprised us. But we read on, thinking it was just some random typo (everyone makes mistakes, right?) Then we started to notice other mistakes like 'an' instead of 'and' and 'jest' instead of 'just'. That's when we realised that these mistakes were intentional. Then both of us did the whole hand smacking on the forehead thing 'cause we freaking went on for a whole fifty pages or so thinking Moira Young had a really messed up editor.

When we got to the end though, the different language became one of the things we loved about the book. Both of us thought it added further to Saba’s personality and added further information to Saba’s world. Young’s style of writing is simple, which wasn’t a bad thing in this case; it made most of the scenes- especially the action ones- fast paced and all the more exciting. We was so used to this style of writing that we went around saying that Blood Red Road "warn't as bad as I wus sayin it wus" and that it was really "innerestin", accent and all.

The characters were awesome, each one unique, funny and relevant to the story. We would also like to say that we loved Tommo. He was so cute especially when him and Emmi were doing some bonding. Maybe a romance will develop? Hope so :D

We found the romance between Jack and Saba... cute, although sometimes their remarks and so called "hatred" for each other felt forced. And the way he just left in the end?! We can tell this won't end well.

The world- building was very well done- oh, God, we sound like we're talking about meat here, "would you like your steak well done, medium rare, or rare?". Scratch that then. The world building was really good (better, now?), very vivid and very... deserty, if we can say that.

In short, Blood Red Road was a fun intense read that both of us enjoyed very much. Five Stars!!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater Review

Ever since Grace was attacked by wolves when she was younger and a yellow eyed wolf came to save her, Grace had always been watching him, and he has always been watching her. 

 

One day, Grace finds a bleeding boy in her backyard with the same yellow eyes as her wolf. Her wolf, it turns out, is a werewolf named Sam that turns into a human every summer and a wolf every winter. And this bond, turns out to become a romance. But winter is coming, and Grace and Sam must fight to stay together.

_____________________________________________


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater has to be the most saddest and sweetest book ever.

First of all, We'd like to applaud Maggie Stiefvater. *cue clapping*

We know from experience how hard it is to distinguish each character when your book has multiple points- of- view. This is especially hard if the characters are of different sex. We've read books where the guy sounded so much like a girl that we thought he was going to open up about his sexuality at some point.

This was not the case for Shiver.

Sam Roth was very much a boy, a guitar playing, poem loving boy at that. He has experienced a very painful past that still haunts him and endures a present with no hope of a human future. Enter Grace Brisbane(boo! *thumbs down* Just kidding :p). She too has experienced a traumatic childhood attack by werewolves. But before things got worse, a yellow- eyed wolf morphed into a human to carry her out of the scene. Fast forward several years and Grace still remembers the mysterious yellow- eyed boy who carried her out of the woods. A fateful meeting and Grace and Sam are reunited, sparking a romance between them.

We loved Sam. Unlike the rapey "bad boys" we get nowadays in YA books, Sam is just the freaking bomb. The way Sam wanted to do things the right way with Grace was so sweet. He has a way of saying things that are totally romantic but really sad. If only the guys in our tiny town are like him. It would make us very happy girls. We even wrote it in our letters to Santa:

Dear Santa,

I hope I've been a good girl this year and I hope you make my wishes come true.
I would really love a real- life Sam Roth (you, know. From Shiver?)....

Loved our little sneak peak of our letter to Santa? Yeah, we thought so.

Moving on....

We actually liked Grace. We mean, we hated that she stole Sam from us, but as we liked how Grace wasn't like some of those really annoying girls you find when reading some other Y.A novels. She wasn't "nothing" without Sam; she was still very much functional and still thought of herself with a future. And with Sam, she still made plans about her future, like going to a decent college, getting a red coffeepot, things like that (unlike someone we know, who'd go to Alaska and lie her own dad just to be with her vampire boyfriend). we felt sorry about her relationship with her parents, though. Poor thing.

The way the book swaps from Grace's and Sam's point of view makes you know have everyone is dealing or feeling with each scene. It really adds a lot more depth to the characters.

The world- building was excellently done; we would very much love to live in Mercy Falls. And the werewolf thing's pretty much what we’re looking forward to. Who wouldn't love some hot werewolves? Except Shelby. She's just a psychotic bitch (ha, ha).

We really enjoyed Shiver, and we are very much looking forward to the sequel. We hope all you other fellow readers will find Shiver an amazing read too.<3

P.S: Wanna know what we miss the most?