Book Review: Slasher Girls & Monster Boys (ARC)

Author:  Various authors; stories selected by April Genevieve Tucholke

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Dial Books

Publication Date: August 18, 2015

385 pages, hardcover/ARC

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys was a horrifying, creepy, thrilling, strange collection of stories from some of the coolest YA writers out there right now. It was a perfect one to read during this time of the year, and I would highly recommend it for a Halloween read. I love that each of the stories are based on horror stories and movies, and it was really cool to try to figure out their inspiration or find out when I finished the story.

My favorite stories of the lot were:

Jay Kristoff’s “Sleepless” – a story that is sure to creep out anyone who’s ever spoken to someone on the internet and never knew who they really were. It’s full of unexpected twists and turns that are sure to surprise you. Although I knew where the inspiration for this one came from pretty quickly, it wasn’t predictable and was quite horrifying. I really want more from Jay Kristoff.

Nova Ren Suma’s “The Birds of Azalea Street” – Nova is so good at magical realism, and this story is no exception. I really like her writing style, and this one was decidedly creepy because it felt real even with the addition of the magical realism.

Carrie Ryan’s “In the Forest Dark and Deep” – Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but oh so much creepier. It’s a terrifying story of monsters in the woods, mean girls, tea parties in the woods, and the terrible things that people…or creatures can do.

Marie Lu’s “The Girl without a Face” – I love that this one was inspired, in part, by the film Los Ojos de Julia, which is one of my favorites. You could really get that super creepy and eerie feeling from it. It’s definitely the most “traditionally” scary one of the whole collection. It makes you want to keep your closet door open and check under your bed. *shudders*

The rest of the collection is made up of some great stories as well, and a few that I could’ve done without. I was a little bored with Stefan Bachmann’s “M” and Cat Winter’s “Emmeline”, but was intrigued by A.G. Howard’s story inspired by Frankenstein. Overall, I really liked this collection, and I’ll definitely be rereading some of these at Halloween next year.

The bottom line: Add this to your Halloween TBR.

Rating: Each story has its own rating, but overall, I’ll give this collection a 7 – pretty good

Shout out to Dahlia Adler who sent me an ARC of this one.

ARC Review: The Rose Society by Marie Lu

Author: Marie Lu

Genre: Young adult, fantasy

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: October 13, 2015

416 pages, hardcover

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

Shout out to Brittany from Brittany’s Book Rambles whose giveaway I won and received The Rose Society from.

Expect a lot of caps lock in this review. This is what my immediate reaction was upon finishing this book and what I wrote as my Goodreads review:

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS AND NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW BRILLIANT THIS BOOK WAS.

I’m still struggling to find the words to describe how much I loved this follow up to last year’s The Young Elites (which I also LOVED). It’s rare that I read a sequel that I find to be completely up to par with the first book, but this was. Plus, it’s darker and more devious and delightfully delicious. I devoured it and this one’s not even out yet but I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE THIRD BOOK.

I got chills after the two pages. That’s the mark of a book that pulls you in immediately and doesn’t want to let you go. I swear, if I had not had to go to work, I would’ve read it straight through, and do YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO GO TO WORK?

We’ve got to talk about Adelina, of course. Man, do I love her. She’s fierce, dark, strong, and decidedly stubborn. And in The Rose Society she takes it a step farther. She isn’t afraid to get what she wants, to fight for revenge, to be mean if she has to and bitter and tough. I love her. It’s refreshing to read about a main character who is, well…a little evil. She’s losing her mind somewhat, and that downward spiral is captivating.

This book will break your heart and make you crave more of it. And that ending. No spoilers, but it’s both deliciously satisfying and slightly enraging in that I NEED MORE NOW. I’m so pumped that my teens chose The Young Elites for our November book club read at the library.

Even though I was obviously obsessed with this one, this one felt more slow-burning than The Young Elites which was packed to the brim with action. I liked the focus on Adelina’s mental state, but I think TYE was a little more intense, if that makes sense.

The bottom line: If my review isn’t enough for you, I’m not sure how else to get my point across. READ THIS SERIES. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, you’re probably going to be completely enthralled, put under a spell that you won’t want to break.

Rating: 9 – practically perfect

My Villain Squad & a Giveaway for The Rose Society ARC

Brittany from Brittany’s Book Rambles tagged me to do this AWESOME post – I’m to make myself into a villain to help promote Marie Lu’s The Young Elites (which I LOVE) and The Rose Society (which almost killed me but I also love – review SOON). So, of course, I was going to help promote it, but I get to turn myself into a villain? YESSSSSS. Be sure to stick around for the giveaway at the bottom!

Before I tell you my super villain identity (which I’m really not supposed to be doing. I should really kill you just for knowing), I’m going to include the awesome covers for each books and where you can buy them. (I don’t have those affiliate links; I’m just sharing because I really think you should read these books).

          

THE YOUNG ELITES: Amazon | B&N | BAM | IndieBound | Goodreads
THE ROSE SOCIETY: Amazon | B&N | BAM | IndieBound | Goodreads

I AM…THE DIVINER

(Image found on this Tumblr – It is NOT mine)

I have the powers of anti-energy manipulation. Essentially, I have the ability to conjure energy capable of annihilating everything else that’s considered energy – your powers, your body, your soul. The energy I create is only able to be manipulated or transformed by me. I have the power to create energy that will destroy you.

If I had a real life villain squad (who am I kidding? I totally do),
these are the people who’d be in it:

LOKI, Marvel comics and movies

ADELINA AMOUTERU, The Young Elites by Marie Lu

THE JOKER, DC comics and movies

BELLATRIX LESTRANGE, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

THE DARKLING, the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo
(I’ve only read the first book but can already tell I want him on my squad)

Who would be in your villain squad?

And now, click the image below to be taken to the Rafflecopter giveaway for an ARC OF THE ROSE SOCIETY. Seriously, you guys, you DO NOT want to miss this book!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten Books I Read In 2014 (Overall, By A Particular Genre, 2014 Releases)

This is one of the hardest TTT posts I’ve ever had to do. I read SO MANY good books this year. Because of that, I’m going to list more than ten books. Sorrynotsorry. I’m going to give you a list of books published before 2014 that I read this year and a list of books published during 2014. Hope that’s okay! All of the titles are linked to my reviews.

Published BEFORE 2014

It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Every single book I read by Oliver Jeffers (you can find all my reviews under this tag – sorry it has some other stuff in there too)
This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Published DURING 2014

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
Rivers by Michael Farris Smith
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

Well, look at that. I only went THREE over. I will stop there because I could probably list about 50, but I don’t think you guys would be too happy with that. What are the top books you read this year?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top new-to-me authors I read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014

I read so many amazing authors in 2014! I had a fun time compiling this list. I can’t believe I just came across these authors this year. It feels like I’ve always loved them. 🙂 All book titles are linked to my reviews.

Stephanie Perkins – Anna and the French Kiss

Morgan Matson – Since You’ve Been Gone

Oliver Jeffers – The Incredible Book-Eating Boy

Robert Kirkman – The Walking Dead [volume 1]

Marie Lu – The Young Elites

Adi Alsaid – Let’s Get Lost

Jennifer E. Smith – This Is What Happy Looks Like

Stacey O’Neale – Mortal Enchantment

Rainbow Rowell – Attachments

Lori Rader-Day – The Black Hour

What new-to-you authors did you read in 2014?

December TBR

Yesterday was the start of December. There are 30 days left in 2014. How is this possible? So crazy. Anyway, I decided to try this challenge on Instagram (one of those you post a themed picture every day of the month). I’m really, really bad at them, but I figured I’d try. I always have fun for the 5-10 days I actually post, so why not? 🙂

The post for the 1st of December was your TBR for the month. I thought it’d be fun to see what everyone else was planning to read this month. So here’s mine. Tell me what you plan to read in December in the comments! ALSO, I completely forgot to include My True Love Gave to Me in the picture, and I plan on reading one essay from that a day for the days leading up to Christmas. 🙂 I will probably read more than what’s in this picture, but I don’t want to feel obligated.

View this post on Instagram

Chatty's hanging out with my #DecemberTBR. 🙂 Probably not everything I'll read this month. Also, #Linger is a reread. #halfbloodsnowflakes #decbookchallenge14 #books #legend #marielu #everyday #DavidLevithan #maggiestiefvater #AThousandPiecesofYou #ClaudiaGray #thebookofstrangenewthings #michelfaber #tbr

A post shared by Stefani (@stefanisloma) on Dec 1, 2014 at 5:05pm PST

Legend by Marie Lu / Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (this is a reread) / Every Day by David Levithan / A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray / The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (which I’ve already started and really like so far)

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR

My True Love Gave to Me, Edited by Stephanie Perkins – I was going to wait until winter to buy this one, but couldn’t wait. However, I think I’m going to read one story a day during my holiday break from work. I think that’d be the perfect time. 🙂

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion – Can’t wait for this one. CAN’T. WAIT.

Legend by Marie Lu – I recently read and LOVED Marie Lu’s The Young Elites. I already own Legend (got it for my birthday), so I’m definitely looking forward to reading this one!

The 5^th Wave by Rick Yancey – I’ve heard mixed things about this one, but my friend Booknerderie just reviewed it and really liked it, so I’ve got to read it. Already own this one too.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – winter is all about dark books for me – dystopian, fantasy, sad books – and I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while. Good thing I already have a copy of this – signed too!

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater – I started rereading The Wolves of Mercy Falls series as audiobooks, but Linger was skipping, so I’m going to finish rereading them as physical books. I know I don’t have to reread the series to understand Sinner, but it’s been so long since I’ve read it and the series was due a reread anyway.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor – same reason as Shadow and Bone.

Shift and Dust by Hugh Howey – These were on my fall TBR and I wasn’t able to get to them. I need to.

Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle – I haven’t read this book yet and it is the only John Green book I haven’t read. What better time of year to read it than during winter?

(hopefully) The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – I saw hopefully because it’s on my Christmas wishlist. I love Maggie and I need to read everything she’s ever written!

What’s on your winter TBR?

Top Six Tuesday: Sequels I Can’t Wait to Get

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait To Get

This was a difficult list to come up with. I couldn’t come up with a full ten, but that’s okay.

The Young Elites sequel by Marie Lu – who knows when this’ll be out, but I’ll be all over it when it does come out. I LOVED The Young Elites

The Rosie Effect (the sequel to The Rosie Project) by Graeme Simsion – I already have an e-ARC of this one, but I definitely want a physical copy to match my copy of The Rosie Project. I can’t wait to start this one!

The fourth Raven Cycle book by Maggie Stiefvater

Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater – I have an e-ARC of this as well, but I just haven’t read it yet. I’m trying to reread the Wolves of Mercy Falls series before I read this as it’s been a while. I’ve reread/listened to Shiver as an audiobook and started Linger but it skipped a bunch so I need to reread it as a physical book.

Fragile Reign (sequel to Mortal Enchantment, which I reviewed HERE) by Stacey O’Neale

The Warm Bodies sequel by Isaac Marion

What sequels are you looking forward to? Did I forget something from this list? I feel like I did. 

WWW Wednesday [5]

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three questions: (As always, all titles are linked to their corresponding Goodreads pages)

• What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld. It’s pretty great so far. I haven’t gotten that far into it yet as I’ve been a little busy (or relaxing with arts and crafts like yesterday), but I hope to read more of it today. I really like the alternating chapters between real life and Darcy’s fantasy world in her novel. So cool.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I finished reading Marie Lu’s The Young Elites a few days ago and reviewed it on Monday. I thought it was absolutely incredible. I was super impressed by my first Lu book. Her world building was amazing and I cannot wait for the next book. The Young Elites is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. I gave it a 9.5, which should tell you how much I loved it.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m not sure. I had this awesome haul last week, and I’m not sure what I want to read next from it. What do you guys think? Want to recommend something to me? Let me know in the comments! 🙂 Here are the titles I want to choose from: My True Love Gave to Me, Black Ice, Belzhar, or Messenger of Fear.

 

Book Review: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

The Young Elites was my first book by Marie Lu, but I am ridiculously impressed. It is incredible.

Author: Marie Lu

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: October 7, 2014

355 pages, hardcover

Check out the synopsis on Goodreads.

Adelina Amouteru is a malfetto, one of the children who were marked after the blood fever swept through the land. But she isn’t just a regular malfetto, she’s a Young Elite, one of those marked that came out of the blood fever with not just markings, but powers too. And now she’s being hunted for them: by Teren Santoro, leader of the Inquisition Axis who may just have a secret or two hidden under his robes, and by Enzo Valenciano, leader of the secret sect of Young Elites called the Dagger Society who seeks out others like them. Adelina has powers no one has ever seen before.

This isn’t real. This is a nightmare. This isn’t a nightmare. This is real. – page 25

HOLY CRAP, you guys! This book is freaking incredible. I kept having to put it down and take a break because it was just that good. I’ll start by talking about my favorite part: the world building. Even 25 pages in, I already had a pretty clear picture of what everything looked like, and as the book went on, the little details became clearer. It wasn’t just the city around Adelina. We were given small details about the bordering countries, so that the entire world was being painted around us. I don’t know how she does it, but Marie Lu must have entire worlds in her mind and be able to pull out even the smallest of details to add to the story. Plus her world building isn’t done in an obvious way either (some authors are like, “Here. This is what everything looks like.”). Lu does it in a completely subtle and beautiful way in which you barely notice that you now know how the city, the sky, the streets, the people look. I am definitely not doing her writing justice, but I loved it.

Her eyes are very dark, so dark that sometimes they seem wholly empty. Like he could fall to his death in them. – page 57

That quote is not about Adelina, but I’m going to talk about her now. I really liked her. She’s strong and super stubborn (super stubborn), but I liked her. I enjoyed seeing her grow into herself and her power. Adelina’s darkness was so cool and even though it’s frightening, it’s hard not to root for her.

All of the character have a purpose in this book. No one is just there. It’d probably be pretty difficult to discuss them without giving away the twists and turns in this book, of which there are several. So I’ll just say that everyone is awesome.

The ending was exciting and had me on the edge of my seat. The epilogue was crazy awesome and I seriously cannot wait for book two. I need it. Now. Please?

The bottom line: I could probably talk about this book forever. I am so impressed with it. I checked it out from the library, but I will need my own copy so I can reread it a billion times. HIGHLY recommend this one.

Rating: 9.5 – I don’t think I’ve given a 9.5 before. Basically, it means THIS IS AWESOME.