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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

May 2016 Wrap Up

Here is what just happened?  I'm looking up ideas for blog posts and I look at the time and noticed today's date...today is the last day of May???  I mean, when did that happened?  This month flew by way quicker than I was expecting, that's for sure...anyway, here is my wrap up for the month of May:

1. Locke and Key, Volume 3 by Joe Hill: 4 Stars


2. Sex Criminals, Volume 1 Matt Fraction: 3 Stars


3. Locke and Key, Volume 4 by Joe Hill: 4 Stars


4. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: 5 Stars-wish I could give MORE


5. Locke and Key, Volume 5 by Joe Hill: 5 Stars


6. Locke and Key: Volume 6 by Joe Hill: 5 Stars


7. An Ember in the Ashes Sabaa Tahir: 4 Stars (the last chapters did it for me)


8. The Crown Kiera Cass: 5 Stars-Even though it took 5 books to end this series, not that is over I'm sad :(


9. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman: 3.5 Stars (did I miss something???)


10. Saga, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan: 4 Stars


11. Anna and the French Kiss Stephanie Perkins: 5 Stars (AH I love this book so much--PARIS)


12. Saga, Volume 3 Brian K. Vaughan: 4 Stars


13. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins: 4.25 Stars


14. Isla and The Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins: 5 Stars


15. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare: Currently Reading, I'm almost half way through it right now so...we will see.




Between 14 to 15 books?  Not a bad reading month, right?  

What did you guys read in May?  After reading Anna and Lola and Isla I need more books like that, what would you recommend?

XOXO,

Nelia

Friday, May 27, 2016

Weekend Reads: Game of Thrones and City of Fallen Angels

Woohoo, long weekend people, it has been a very long time since I've had a long weekend and I CANNOT wait.  And hold on for it...it's going to be gorgeous out, in the 80s, I know I can't ask for anything else, right?  Right, here are a couple books that I'm going to be reading while I sit outside in my boat while soaking up the sun :)

Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin


I've this book in my Current Reading list for months, but since I started watching the show I just cannot get enough of GOT so I had to restart reading and I'm finally getting around to it.  I'm about 90 pages in, I know I'm not that far into it, but this is an in between book but I really enjoying and I feel like now that I have watched all 5 seasons of GOT and I'm currently on the new one, I more connected to the characters and can understand the book better.  I know that's weird and I never feel like that about a book, like I always read my books before watching the movies/shows first but this one was different.  Okay, I'm going to stop babbling...lol

And my current my read is:

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

https://www.amazon.com/City-Fallen-Angels-Mortal-Instruments-ebook/dp/B003V1WVH0?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

It's about time that I read this one and after finishing The Infernal Devices I'm so ready to get back to this series and finish it.

And that's it, what are you guys reading and doing this weekend?

XOXO,

Nelia

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Book Review: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

It's time for another book review and time to review another book of The Mortal Instruments Series, I'm slowly moving along this series.  It's not that I don't like because OMG I really, really love and enjoy it so I think that I just don't want it to end it, you know what I mean, right?  Okay, let's get to this one's review:

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare


Clary has to travel to the City of Glass, which is the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters, but she has not choice, she needs to go there in order to save her mother's life.  But, going there without permission is also against the law and breaking such Law could mean death.  Ah, what can a girl do?  Things cannot get any worse, she finds out that Jace doesn't want her there either and that her best friend, Simon, has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, because they are wicked suspicious of a vampire who can walk in plain daylight.  Yeah, things are just going downhill so she has no choice but going to the City of Glass and try to save not only her mother's life but her friend's too.

While Clary is there she starts to uncover more and more about her family's past than she was expecting and she finds an ally in the mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian, especially after Jace and the others refuse helping her.  But can she fully trust Sebastian?

Valentine is back and he is mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever and all the Shadowhunters soon find out that the only way to defeat him is to ally and fight alongside their eternal enemies.  But will Shadowhunters and Downworlders be able to work together?

How much is Clary and Jace willing to sacrifice for this fight?  And we finally get to learn more about their past in this book that once I was done reading it?  I was so happy and content, I totally gave this book 5 out of 5 stars, it was the best so far in the series and maybe the reason that I haven't been in the rush to start the next one?  I will read the remaining 3 books, I promise, but this book was amazing to totally recommend it.

XOXO,

Nelia

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Book Review: Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

Happy Tuesday and Happy Book Review Tuesday!!!  It's a raining day in New England today but I'm not going to complain because they are predicting 80s tomorrow, WOOHOO.  YEAH, I'm a very happy girl even though it's raining today.

But I'm going to be quiet and get to today's review, which I really enjoyed reading:

Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch


Three months as gone by since Meira freed the Winterians and the only thing that she wants is for her people to be safe.  But of course safety never comes easy, right?  Meira freed her people with the help of Cordell and because of that the Winterians are in debt with Cordell.  And they are forcing the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, making them dig deeper and deeper into the mines in search of Primoria's lost chasm of magic.

Theron thinks finding Primoria's lost chasm of magic is an opportunity for the world to stand against threats like Angra, but Meira isn't so sure that's the right thing to do.  She knows the last time the world access so much magic, it spawned the Decay, but how can she convince Theron of that?

When King of Cordell orders the two of them on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm's secrets, Meira is going to use this trip to going to find a way to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe, even if that means clashing with Theron.  Can she do it?  Even knowing that she will hurt people that she loves?

One of the things that I loved about this second book was getting the perspective of Mather and Oh My, did we learn about Mather this book.  We got to learn that even though he is back at Winter with his parents and even though he is happy about Meira, he just wants to be FREE.  And Winter and it's people are still suffering, everything is still fresh and the Cordell's are taking advantage.  So, when Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides that he is going to take measures and take care of Winter's security into his own hands.  Will he be able too?  Does he know who he is fighting?

There are a lot going on on this book, after the first book I didn't think we were going to get another story that would get me so involve again, but Sara Raasch did it and it was good, really good.  I loved all the action and loved Meira in this book.  She is not afraid to go with her guts and I think that is what makes her different from most main characters.  Mather, he has come a long way, and he evolved a lot in this book and I'm ready to see a lot of him next and see what else he has to bring.  Bring on the next book!!!  I gave this one 4 out of 5 stars.

XOXO,

Nelia

Friday, May 20, 2016

Weekend Reads: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Hello Friday!!!  Hello Weekend!!!  And Hi Spring!!! I'm in a good mood and I don't want to ruin it lol...this weekend I'm taking the kids to an indoor water part Saturday and we get to spend the night there to, so it will be relaxing as we won't be rushing to get back home.  Sunday will be to rest and do nothing...I'm liking this weekend more and more :)

And here is the book that I will be reading this weekend:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins



I just finished reading Anna and the French Kiss last night and OMG I loved that book and I'm so ready to dive in to this one right away...

Have you read this trilogy?  What did you think of these books?  Which one was your favorite?

What are you doing this weekend?

XOXO,

Nelia

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Book Review: Graphic Novels Part 4

For the last couple weeks I have been on the mood to read some graphic novels, so I have accumulated quite a bit of them and I think it's time to do a round up of Graphic Novels and short novels that I have read in the last few months or so, right?  Ok, let's jump right in:

1.  Cloudy With A Change of Destruction (Lois Lane) by Gwenda Bond


This one... I got this Novel from NetGalley and read it last year and never got a change to do a review, but let's remedy this and do one, shall we?  This was such a quick read and I really like it, I wanted more when I was done.  This follow Lois Lane during school, she is in high school during science class and there is a chemistry project that kind of goes out of control and she has to deal with it.  One of her classmates decides to impress his ex girlfriend with an experiment and he brings something to school the next day that is so dangerous that could harm the whole school.  Lois, together with her "internet" friend find out what the experiment and they same the day before people get harmed.  It was an interesting and cute book, I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

2.  Saga, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan


This one?  OMG, there was so much hype about this series that I wasn't sure I wanted to read, but then I decided to just buy one Volume and read it and I fell in love it with.  The story falls a couple who are each from different worlds but have fallen in love and are married and have just give birth to a baby, however the world is not okay with this union.  So, they are on the run because people from all over the universe is trying to find and kill them.  This Graphic Novel is Fantasy and science fiction all together and amazingly done and the art?  Amazing, I love it and of course I gave it 5 stars and cannot wait to read the next volumes.

3. The Other One (5 to 1) by Holly Bodger


I remember just looking up to see if there was a sequel to 5 to 1 and there isn't one yet, but I found this short novel about Surina and of course I had to read it.  It was really short only 32 pages so I was done in like 15 minutes or less but I was happy to be back on that world for that amount of time, we need a sequel Holly.  Okay, back to this novel, this novel follows Surina on the first day of her sister's Tests, and even though she is suppose to be Koyanagar's perfect Poster Girl, she is actually far from it.  She isn't happy on her marriage, she actually hates to have to follow everyone's desires.  Her life is far from perfect, especially after losing the boy that she loved and it was all her fault.  I gave it 4 out of 5 stars, even though I felt bad for her and understood some of the reasons why she felt and did things, I felt like she could be more like her sister a bit instead of complaining so much.

4.  Boxers by Gene Luen Yang


Nothing like reading and learning at the same time, right?  That's how I felt about this Graphic Novel.  China, 1898, foreign missionaries and soldiers are in the countryside bullying and robbing the Chinese peasants.  Little Bao takes measures into his own hands and starts to recruit his own army of Boxers (commoners trained in kung fu who will fight to free China from "foreign devils").

The rebellion is becoming successful, but at what cost?  It is very violent and lots and lots of people are dying, including "secondary devils" which are Chinese citizens that have converted to Christianity.

This was a really interesting and graphic novel, I loved learning about this era in history and the art was amazing, it really captured what the story was about.  I gave this GN 4 out of 5 stars.

5.  Saints by Gene Luen Yang


This is the second and companion novel to Boxers, and the story doesn't technically continue from where it left off right away, it actually tells the story in the prespective of one of the "secondary devils", a girl who converts to Christianity.  And you get to understand why some of the Chinese people converted to Christianity and understand the two sides of the story.  And right at the end it picks up where the first novel ended and we get to see what happens to our main character from the first novel Boxers.  I actually ended up enjoying this one a little more and the art was the same, amazing.  I still ended up giving 4 out of 5 stars, why?  I felt like we didn't get full closure, am I the only one?  But I totally recommend both these novels.

6-11. Locke and Key-Volume 1-6 by Joe Hill

          

Ah, I wasn't sure what to pick and came across this Graphic Novel series, there are only 6 volumes and they are all out already so I picked Volume 1 and went with it.  Volume 1 starts with telling what the story is all about: it tells the story of Keyhouse an unlikely New England mansion, with magic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them.  But it also houses a hate-filled creature that will not stop or rest until it forces open the most dangerous and terrible door of them all.  And the story just picks up from there, from Volume 1-6 we get to know all the characters, the sister and her two brothers, the oldest one and the little one.  I love the little brother, he plays a huge roll throughout the novels, he finds most of the keys and finds out what they do, he is one smart little guy.  The sister, she grieves so much in the first Volume and when she finds a key that can make her not cry anymore she takes advantage of it; but at the end she understands that she can't not ignore life and has to feel all the feelings and go through life like everyone else.  The big brother is what keeps the family together, that's what I felt.  He is always there for everyone and at the end he figures out what to do to fix keyhouse and what to do with all the keys, he was pretty amazing.  The mother is a mess throughout most of the volumes, she drinks herself to sleep most of the time but she eventually puts herself together and helps at the end.  The creature that tries to destroy everybody is creepy and pretty damn amazing at the same time, I wanted to kill him but at the same time high five him, he was smart that's for sure.  He knew all about Keyhouse and the keys and what each one of them did and how to take advantage of people.  But he was cruel, more than cruel, he won't think twice if he had to kill someone, so that was pretty crazy.  The end was pretty intense but it ended nicely.  I totally recommend this Graphic novel series.  Here are my ratings: Vol 1: 4 stars, Vol 2: 4 Stars, Vol 3: 4 Stars, Vol 4: 4 Stars, Vol 5: 5 Stars, Vol 6: 5 Stars.

And that's it for my Graphic Novels reviews, 11 of them this time, I will try to not have that many next time :)

What other Graphic Novels do you recommend?

XOXO,

Nelia

Friday, May 13, 2016

Weekend Reads: The Crown by Kiera Cass and Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

WOOHOO, the weekend is here and I think we can finally say that Spring has arrived in New England, but just in case I will keep my fingers crossed.  lol  We are putting our boat in the water this weekend so let's hope it won't rain and it will be sunshine all the weekend long!  And while I'm at the boat these are the books that I will be reading:

The Crown by Kiera Cass


I'm almost done with this one, I may end up finishing it tonight, but we will see.  With the Selection I kind of knew who America was going to pick but with one?  I still don't know who Eadlyn will pick, AH it's killing me, because of course I have a favorite :) And can we take a minute and to just say how gorgeous this cover is?  OMG, the covers just kept getting more beautiful, this one may be may favorite.


And once I'm done with The Crown I will be picking up:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman Kristoff


This one just became available on my elibrary so I had to pick it up, I heard that it's really good and a quick read because of the format, so I'm hoping to read and finish it this weekend.

What are you doing this weekend?  And what books are you currently reading?

XOXO,

Nelia

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Book Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I'm back with another review, I feel like I haven't done one in a while, is it me?  I don't know...let's just get to it?  Yeah, let's do it.

And today I'm bringing a book that I read the beginning of this year, I remember reading this book as an ebook first as I got from my elibray and then it my loan ended it when I was like half way through it and OMG, I went days and days thinking about this book, I ended up going to my library to pick up a physical copy but they didn't have it.  Then, I went to my Used Book store and they didn't have a copy of it, it was torture, finally I was grocery shopping one day and it was just there, looking at me, so of course I bought it and read the rest of the book in a couple days.  Here is the book that I'm talking about and my review:

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey


Cassie is on the run, she is running away from them.  Who is them?  They are the beings who may look like humans but are not and they have taken over earth.  How?  Well, there was the 1st Wave where only darkness remained.  And then there was the 2nd Wave, where only the lucky escaped.  There was also the 3rd Wave, were only the unlucky survived and after the 4th Wave only one rule applies: trust no one.

The 5th Wave is coming and Cassie is running from Them, they are roaming the countryside and killing anyone they see.  Cassie believes to in order to survive she must stay alone and trust no one as you don't know who is who anymore, that is until she meets Evan Walker.  He comes when she is most vulnerable, when she is hurt and needs help and he helps her, at first she isn't sure about him, can she really trust Evan?  But at the same time, he is the only hope and only person that can help her getting her little brother back.  It looks like Evan knows how to get her brother back and even how to help herself from her own thoughts, will she trust him?  Can she trust him?  Is Evan who he says he is?

Cassie will go through life and death situations on this book more than once and you will also get to meet the Others and get to know more side characters who you will root for.   Overall, I enjoyed this book, it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be but I enjoyed and I'm looking forward to reading the next book and to watch the movie too.  I ended up giving it 4 out of 5 stars and I do recommend it if you like a book with mystery in it and of course dystopian books.

And that will do it for today.

XOXO,

Nelia

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

March and April 2016 Book Haul

I totally forgot to post a March book haul so now you get to see what I bought both in March and April and what started off as a small haul will be a huge one again...lol.  Anyways, let's get to it?  Let's do this:

There was a new Used Book Store that opened in March and of course I went to check it out and ended up buying a few books:

I want to re read Harry Porter before the new book comes out and I only have the 5th book in my possession, don't ask me how, so when I saw that this Used Book Store had HP books in perfect conditions of course I got some, I actually got the first 3 books.

1-3 Harry Porter and the Sorcerer's Stone/ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling






4.  A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (I've already read this one and loved it)



5. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (funny story? got home and found out that I already have this book in hardcover-giveaway???)



6. Night Film by Marisha Pessl



7. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (I'm currently reading this lovely book and WHY, WHY didn't I read this book earlier, it's so good!)



8. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith



9. The Revolution of Ivy Amy Engel (I've already read this one too and of course I loved it)



eBooks:

10. Saven Deception by Siobhan Davis-Free book from Amazon and the author contacted me and told me about it.  I loved her other series that I read last year (True Calling) so I cannot wait to read this one. (it's still free on Amazon so go and grab your own copy)


11. A Stone in the Sea by A. L. Jackson-Free eBook-not free anymore


12. Justice Buries by Hilary Thompson-Free eBook-not free anymore but it's  on sale for 99 cents


13. Talon by Julie Kagawa-It has been a while since I have wanted to start this trilogy so when this ebook went on sale for $1.99 I just had too.  (it's no longer on sale for $1.99 but it's currently $3.99)


March done and now off to show you what I got in April...let's goooo:

14.  Reality Boy by A.S. King-you are never going to believe where I got this book, my dollar store.  Yeah, I only paid 1 dollar for it.  Woohoo



15. Born by AE Watson-Free ebook from Amazon (it's currently on sale for $1)


16.  Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith-got this one Free ebook from the Author, a big Thank You to David, hoping to read this one very soon. (it's currently on sale for $1.99)


17. Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen-I have been hearing great things about this ebook and when it was on sale for a couple dollars of course I had to get it.


18. Dragon Rose by Christine Pope-another Free ebook from Amazon


19.  The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho



20. Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander



20 Books in 2 months, not as bad as I thought it would be...still a lot of books, but 6 of them were free eBooks so...no bad, no bad. 


XOXO,

Nelia