Friday, February 27, 2015

Review: The Warrior Heir



“More and more, there were no revelations, but simply the uncovering of truths long known but dimly remembered. Everything had been written long ago. There was nothing truly new in the world, but only the slow, circular march of time that revealed the old things once again.”  

Title: The Warrior Heir
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publication Date: April 2nd, 2006 
Publisher:  Hyperion
Source: Bought it
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon






This was a reread for me. Granted I read this over 5 years ago. This is why I decided to reread it. I never continued with the series and I really want to so I decided to reread the first one. Prior to starting this book, I literally remembered nothing. I had the most basic idea of the end. After I got like 50 pages into this book, a bunch of the plot points came back to me.

As for the actual book, I somewhat enjoyed this book. The world that Chima has created is expansive and I love it. Chima also did a good job just giving us the information we needed never anything more. For me the writing at times was flat, I feel like you could almost categorize this book as middle grade rather than YA. But for the most part, the writing did not hinder my enjoyment.

The story of a “normal” teenager finding out he is special is not unique, but Chima takes an interesting approach to it. Our main character, Jack, is born without a wizard stone (what gives people their powers) and is given a warrior stone instead. Jack is hidden in Ohio to protect him from the feud going on among the Weir people. But of course you cannot hide forever and Jack is thrust into this new world where he must fight to stay alive. Since I have read the book before I knew the ending, but I did not remember all the plot twists which helped with my enjoyment.

One last thing I want to mention is the prologue. I have read many mixed things about it. Yes it is really long at 18 pages. But I really liked it. It sets up this whole mystery of why they were after the family and what happened to the family after the attack. Personally, I'm a huge fan of prologues especially when their meaning and importance is not at all apparent at first.

This was a hard review to write for me because I remember really enjoying this book when I first read it, but after rereading it, I’m not in love. It is really hard to write a review for a book you have reread especially when you had high expectations and the reread was not as good as you remembered. I think part of that is because I’m older and have read many other fantasy books that I love. For me, The Warrior Heir is an interesting world with intrigue, but there was just something missing. I definitely want to read the other books in the series.

♛ ♛ ♛

Let me know in the comments if you have read the book and what your thoughts are.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

March 2015 New Releases

These are the new releases that I'm most looking forward to in March!


Title: The Alex Crow 
Author: Andrew Smith
Publication Date: March 10th, 2015    
Publisher: Dutton's Children
About: Andrew Smith is an auto-buy author for me. And this one sounds really interesting. We have multiple perspectives of a bomber, a refugee, and a bionic crow. I just know this is going to be another great book. And I cannot wait until my copy is here! 
Where to Find: Goodreads / Amazon







Title: The Infinite (Gates of Thread and Stone, #2)    
Author: Lori M. Lee
Publication Date: March 10th, 2015     
Publisher: Skyscape 
About: I loved the first one in this series and am really looking forward to reading this one. The world Lee has built is amazing and the cover for this second one is even better than the first. I actually have a galley of this but haven't had the time to read it. The goal is to read it this weekend. 
Where to Find: Goodreads / Amazon


Title: The Winner's Crime (Winner's Trilogy, #2) 
Author: Marie Rutkowski
Publication Date: March 3rd, 2015
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)   
About: This is another highly anticipated sequel for me. I absolutely loved The Winner's Curse and need to know what happens next to Kestral and Arin. If you haven't started this trilogy yet, you need to. Plus another gorgeous cover (personally I like the first one just a bit more).
Where to Find: Goodreads / Amazon



Title: The Orphan Queen
Author: Jodi Meadows
Publication Date: March 10th, 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
About: This book has a lot of hype, I don't know much about it, but I know many people who have read it  have loved it. From what I do know it sounds like a really interesting new fantasy world and a girl's journey to reclaim her rightful place.
Where to Find: Goodreads / Amazon





Did I forget any books that you are looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Review: The DUFF



“I was the Duff. And that was a good thing. Because anyone who didn't feel like the Duff must not have friends. Every girl feels unattractive sometimes. Why had it taken me so long to figure that out? Why had I been stressing over that dumb word for so long when it was so simple? I should be proud to be the Duff. Proud to have great friends who, in their minds, were my Duffs.” 

Title: The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend 
Author: Kody Keplinger
Publication Date: September 7th, 2010 
Publisher:  Little Brown
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon






This was a pure impulse read. I literally decided at 11 o'clock at night last Friday that I was going to read this. Then it was 1 o'clock in the morning and I was reading the last chapter. I read this book in one sitting, with one break to get a drink. I read this book incredibly fast. This was in part because I enjoyed it, but also because it is a very short book.

This book deals with the issue of being that one friend in the group that does not quite fit in. At least that person believes they do not. In this book that girl is Bianca. However, Bianca does not learn about her status as the DUFF (or Designated Ugly Fat Friend) until one night when Wesley decided he wants to hook up with one of her friends so he is nice to Bianca. He lets it slip that she is the DUFF and if he is nice to the DUFF her friends will like him more.

I could relate to Bianca's feelings about being the one friend who did not quite fit in. There have been many times where I've been the only single one in my friend group, the only one who does not have weekend plans, or even the boring one at a party who just kind of sits there. However, I appreciated that Bianca did not let it fully consume her once she realized she was the DUFF. Yes she was constantly thinking about it, but she still did something about it.

I absolutely loved the progression of the relationship between Bianca and Wesley. I loved all the scenes with them getting to know each other and slowly opening up to each other about their messed up lives. And I was really happen with how everything tied up in the book.

Overall, this was a solid contemporary. I'm not a fan of contemporary books for the most part, but I appreciated this one. I also really want to see the movie, so I was motivated to read the book (because you always have to read the book first).

♛ ♛ ♛ ♛

Let me know in the comments if you have read the book and what your thoughts are. Plus if you have seen or want to see the movie!

Monday, February 23, 2015

#ProjectTBR Read-A-Thon Wrap Up

As expected I was fairly unsuccessful in this read-a-thon. School just kind of got overwhelming last week and I was not motivated to read as much as I would have liked. I finished 3 of the 5 books I wanted to read. I know that sounds good, but I didn't even start Afterworlds (which was the more than 500 page book).


Basically, I first read Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith which I thoroughly enjoyed. I just love Andrew Smith's writing.

After that, I picked up Jackaby. If you read my review you will see that I struggled with rating this book. There were aspects that I absolutely loved and aspects that were bothersome. Overall, though I really enjoyed the characters.

And then finally I read, Shovel Ready. This was a mediocre book. It did however have an interesting plot and a unique writing and storytelling style.

So there you have it, I completed the challenges for green on the cover, under 250 pages, and underrated book. Hopefully the next read-a-thon I do, I will be more successful. But I did get three more books off my TBR so I'm getting closer to #0by16