quinta-feira, 26 de fevereiro de 2015

A Wicked Thing - Rhiannon Thomas

A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas
Series: A Wicked Thing #1
Published by HarperTeen on February 24, 2015
Pages: 352
Genres: Fantasy, Retellings
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of what happens after happily ever after. Vividly imagined scenes of action, romance, and political intrigue are seamlessly woven together to reveal a richly created world… and Sleeping Beauty as she's never been seen before.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.
This book is the definition of fantasy fun or retelling fun or fairy tail fun idk whichever you want to name it, it was a fun ride. I don't know exactly why it was so fun to just sit and read this book, honestly most of the characters didn't feel all that fleshed out, the plot only started happening at the very ending of the book and there wasn't all that much fantasy to keep me distracted from this flaws, yet while I was reading I kept wanting to pick it up everytime I put it down and now that I finished I found myself wanting the sequel.

Probably the biggest reason for this is Aurora, our princess is nothing like the one from Sleeping Beauty, she just waked up and is confused as hell, everyone she knows is dead and she isn't very found of the idea of marrying some random guy that woke her from her sleep after kissing her, soon she finds out that isn't only for her that she needs to worry but for all her kingdom and who can she trust? I have to say that I liked Aurora, and this was probably one of the reasons that this book didn't dragged for me - even on the middle, when she still doesn't know who to trust and is confused with the current politics of her kingdom and is still figuring out what happened after her curse -, I just always felt her confusion really genuine and liked the fact that despite that she goes on search for answers.

The other characters, unfortunately, didn't felt as real - especially the boys. We have the prince who kissed her awake, Rodric, which I liked he always managed to make me smile on his interactions with Aurora mostly because he was so shy and awkward around her, he is the clear good guy and only wants what is best for his kingdom. Then, there is Tristan, the guy who works on a pub and is the definition of everything Aurora can't have being a princess, he mostly annoyed me they interactions and sudden interest on each other felt fake and forced and I couldn't care for Aurora day dreaming about him. And the visiting prince, Finnegan, which was the one that most interested me, he is ironic and that bad boy type, you know with secrets and maybe he is bad or maybe he is good but who knows? Not me. Also there is a promise of dragons on his kingdom. DRAGONS I'M ALWAYS IN FOR DRAGONS.

For the world building we don't really get one, things are basically there and you have to roll with it, I don't really mind it because it's a retelling so I just imagined some medieval village of sorts but I would have liked a little bit more of descriptions of how the people of that land where, there was one scene with a sort of carnival that was cool, I would have liked more that - cultural things about this land, or geography, or anything really. The plot too wasn't really happening until 90% in and them it happened like it hadn't a yesterday and now I'm at wait of book two for centuries to come.

Recommend this book for readers that like retelling looking for a fresh take on the Sleeping Beauty tale, readers that like fantasy but want something more light or readers that don't usual read fantasy but would like to try it.

terça-feira, 24 de fevereiro de 2015

When Joss Met Matt - Ellie Cahill

When Joss Met Matt by Ellie Cahill
Published by Ballantine Books on February 24. 2015
Pages: 352
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley

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Ellie Cahill is poised to coin the term “sorbet sex” with her charming twist on the age-old ‘friends-with-benefits’ story.

Dating can be fun, but it can leave a nasty taste in your mouth. For Joss, ever since her longtime boyfriend cheated on her, she doesn’t want her last memory of a guy to be that jerk. Enter her college friend, Matt. They come up with a theory: after a bad break-up, a person needs to cleanse the palate with a little sorbet sex. Lovers for a night, but always back to being friends in the morning. The two can handle it because they have a contract: rules they wrote, rules they follow and rules they can sometimes bend. The arrangement works: everyone needs a little sorbet now and again … until it starts to be the only thing you want. And then Joss breaks the one rule they never wrote down: don’t fall in love.
I came across this book in a very, well, quickly way - one day I was looking through friends updates on Goodreads and it showed up a review saying that Ellie Cahill was a pen name for Liz Czukas, which for those who don't know wrote Ask Again Later & Top Ten Clues You're Clueless (both released last year by HarperCollins), so it was a non-brainer to request it once it was up on Netgalley. I'm pleased to say that this book does contain the best of Czukas banter and you should pick it up too!

This is story of Joss and Matt, we have the present narration which takes place before graduation of college when both are already on jobs and living independently all very grow up stuff, and the past, which goes since the freshman year when they meet each other and started a friendship that latter on turn into a friends-with-benefits thing. I have to say that Czukas is the best at doing banter-y relationships the way I liked, each interaction of Matt and Joss was beyond adorable and at each of their conversations I would end up shipping them more and more - their past selves always put a silly smile on my face, there was so many laugh out loud interactions too and cute moments, like their list of rules for the sorbet sex.

I also think this is a good bridge between YA and NA, it doesn't really have a NA feel (and by this I mean that nobody has troubled pasts and heavy steamy sex full of orgasms that will cure said troubled past). It also isn't graphic about the sex, despite we having a lot of sex scenes between Joss and Matt (since a good deal of the plot is they getting together for the sorbet sex) none of them were really steamy and I think that YA readers will not have a problem reading it, even younger ones, but I do think that readers that came to a NA novel expecting NA sex will be highly disappointed on this aspect, I particularly wasn't disappointed, I don't read erotica or much NA to feel let down if the book doesn't contain more steamy scenes, it really just read like a YA novel that is set on college and adulthood.

If there was one thing that let me down was the character development, this is a romance book, I get that, and being a romance the plot and main focus is on developing the story of these two characters and how they got together. But at the same time I really like my contemporary reads to be problems that main character have to overcome + romance + friendship/family aspects <<<< this is a winning formula, when well developed, but on this one we basically had this problems that main character have to overcome  don't exist + romance + friendship/family aspects very, very on the side, just when necessary to get the two main characters together for the said sorbet sex. Now, I liked the romance a lot, I was 100% aboard with it and I read this with a grim on my face the whole time BUT I would have liked more character development, especially since this book is from Liz Czukas, her other YA books had a little more than 200 pages and yet I felt like I got to know that characters more than I got to know Joss and Matt.

Overall it was a good book that it did what it proposed to do: present a friend-with-benefits story that turns into something more, and it did it really well, I think that lovers of rom-coms will fall absolutely in love with this story and readers that love a good friends-with-benefits story.

segunda-feira, 9 de fevereiro de 2015

Geek Girl - Holly Smale

Geek Girl by Holly Smale
Series: Geek Girl #1
Published by HarperTeen on January 27, 2015
Pages: 384
Genres: Contemporary, Humor
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss

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Geek + runway = a hilarious runaway hit! This bestselling UK debut is full of humor and high-fashion hijinks—and now it’s coming to America.

Harriet Manners is tired of being labeled a geek. So when she’s discovered by a modeling agent, she seizes the chance to reinvent herself. There’s only one problem: Harriet is the definition of awkward. Does she have what it takes to transform from geek to chic?

Geek Girl is the first book in a hilarious new trilogy. It was also the #1 bestselling YA debut of 2013 in the UK, where it was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Best Book for Teens. With all the humor and fabulous shenanigans of Louise Rennison’s Confessions of Georgia Nicolson and Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries, Geek Girl is about to become an international superstar.
This book was so much fun! I downloaded it from Edelweiss and started reading on an impulse and it was the best decision ever, it was a one read sitting kinda of book that made me laugh out loud and had the most crazy plot ever. Also, this is the first time that I have to agree with the comparisons on the sinopses, this book is a matchup of Georgia Nicolson - with its crazy plot and characters, the british slang and hilarious lines - and The Princess Diaries - Harriet is such a Mia with her freaking out over everything and making a big deal out of things.

One of my favorite things about this was the family dynamics, Harriet lives with her father and stepmother and I absolutely loved their relationships, her dad and his nerdy references, his funny way of dealing with things and (sometimes to much) laid back way; her stepmother being the opposite of that, a lawyer always on suits and with a plan of action. I specially loved how Harriet locked up to her stepmother, there isn't enough books out there that represent a positive relationship between a teen and their step-relative.

The friendships presented here also were great, Harriet has one best friend and they relationship was portrait in a very truthful way - they fight but on the end are always there for each other (+ always ready to kick some bully ass, which is that what friends are for right?). We have a stalker on this one too, but I didn't found it alarming, like I'm totally against stalking and all but this one was so clear to a funny part, also he is also ready to jump on and defend Harriet against bullies (or at least stay behind her, for support of course) so it was all good on my view.

The romance was a bit "meh", I could have done without it but Harriet is a 14-years-old girl so isn't a mystery to know why she feel so head over heels for a supermodel. Also about Harriet having 14-years-old, because of this the narrative turns really juvenile and sometimes too young, it didn't really bothered me much, but it also isn't the book if you're looking for a more mature YA.

I recommend this to readers who want a laugh out loud funny book, a quickly mindless candy-brain read, and also people looking for books to give for a younger teen.

sexta-feira, 6 de fevereiro de 2015

Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Published by Balzer + Bray on January 28, 2014
Pages: 342
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

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Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.
Me, when I finished this book
Cruel Beauty is set on a fantastical world based on Greek mythology, it's not a Graceling mets Beauty and the Beast, and if go into this expecting the kind of fantasy that there is on Graceling you will be majorly disappointed. This is very slow paced and more of a character study sort of book, put together with mythology and a extremely well thought world building - about the world building/mythology aspect, I fell like I have to tell, a lot of people said it was confusing and overload at times but I never felt like it, it was majorly beautiful, especially at the end when you see it all come together and how well thought & build this whole story was.

Nyx was never a hard character for me to love, she was born and raised to kill the demon that rules her lands, she is the only hope, the savior but she also was raised knowing that this task will likely be her death. It was easy to get from where it came all her jealousy, her hatred - for me, she was the personification of all the thoughts and feelings and the irrational human instinct that we have but keep buried. Ignifex and Shade were harder characters to get, both are being built during the entire story and I think that only on the end we can really get they personality and more of his reasons to be how they are.

Being a book mainly focused on the romance, if you don't enjoy it you will probably not enjoy this story so much. I have to say something, since always I wanted a romance between a main character and the villain - but not the usual YA guy with the dark secret that end up being good, no a real villain and Ignifex, being a demon, definitely fits this category of a villain that doesn't searches a reason for his acts - so that being said I absolutely loved every second of this romance! It feel like at first we would have a little of a love triangle but it didn't happened (also was really pleased how it turned out at the end) and them we had the glorious ship that is Nyx and Ignifex - they are both despicable people and they match so well together, there was one sentence that Nyx said that was something like "he has seem all the ugly parts of me and still is able to love me" and this is what made me ship these two so hard, they knew each other on the worst and still managed to fell in love. Also they have an amazing banter, both of their characters are very witty and ready to give a sharp answer to one another - especially Nyx, always remind him of her desire to kill him, it's weird that I liked their threats to each other so much? Oh, well. And their kissing scenes too, so good. And that almost ending. And them the real ending. I just, too good.

So many feels. Everything was felt with this book. Everything.
This book is basically amazing, I loved every second of it from the first chapter till the last and I know that this book isn't everyone cup of tea but I highly hope that you will give it at least a chance to capture your attention and see if you enjoy it - because I think you will.

terça-feira, 3 de fevereiro de 2015

Breathe, Annie, Breathe - Miranda Kenneally

Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks #5
Published by Sourcebooks Fire on July 15, 2014
Pages: 319
Genres: Contemporary, Sports, New Adult
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased

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From the bestselling author of Catching Jordan comes a brand new contemporary YA you won't forget.

The finish line is only the beginning...

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can't escape the guilt that if she hadn't broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.

But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she's at war with her body, her mind-and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms...and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line. "Breathe, Annie, Breathe is an emotional, heartfelt, and beautiful story about finding yourself after loss and learning to love. It gave me so many feels. Her best book yet." - Jennifer L. Armentrout, New York Times bestselling author of Wait for You
I had already heard of the Hundred Oaks series a long time ago, but I was always scared to read because sports isn't really my thing (at all) and o the idea of reading a book were sports are a major part of the story? Yeah, it didn't sounded like something I would enjoy. But time passed, people keeped recommended this series and now that I'm much more into contemporary I decided to try and start with Breathe, Annie, Breathe (I know, it's the 5th of the series but they all can be read as stand alone).

Me and Annie started on the wrong foot, 30% in on the book and I was flying through this book but couldn't really get a read of her character and feelings, also the romance started with some instalust - which I think is fine and natural but it wasn't my ideal scenario when one of the parts of the romance is grieving, I thought "no, this is too soon, maybe I'll be the black sheep and Kenneally' books won't work for me". I was wrong, very very wrong.

Annie grew on me as a character, she is extremely determined and has so much to overcome on this book, until this 30% we basically got a view of her problems: the lack of friends, her difficult relationship with her mother and her fight against her desires and her guilt from moving on with her boyfriend. It was great to see her growing as an individual person and finding out who she was without being a girlfriend, this was why the instalust gave a bad feeling at first - Annie first needed to find herself before going to another relationship.

Of course Jeremiah is the perfect guy, he has some issues of his own to figure out and Annie does help him, but he also gave Annie her time and his friendship which was something necessary for her growth. Their romance was beyond, just beyond. They had an incredible chemistry right from the beginning, their first scene already made me laugh out loud and see their develop a friendship was heaven, it made me ship them more and more throughout the book so when they finally got together was very, very shippy.

Me on the scene at the hospital 
We had a lot of family presence, we got to know (or re-know for those who read the other books maybe? Idk) Jeremiah's family and I have to say that the scene with his PopPop was one of my favorites, was definitely the one that I laughed out loud most - their banter was gold! I would have liked more the presence of Annie's Mother, their issues kind of resolve themselves but I needed more honest conversations between them. Annie's friends too could have used more development - I just felt extremely uncomfortable on their first interaction (one of the girls basically corners Annie into going shopping with them), I was glad afterwards that it happened of course because it opened the doors for Annie get to find fun and have more friends on her life, but still it was awkward at first.

And about my fear that the sports part would bored me or that I would dislike this aspects? LOL I ended up with an urge to go running. Disclaimer: I never runned one day of my life, seriously, never, okay maybe sometimes to catch the bus but that was it, and I have been sedentary for like years and years, I would probably die on the first 5 minutes but I kind of really want to try now because it was so amazing to read about Annie's little victories at each run and how much it helped her to deal with her grief.

In case you didn't noticed yet I loved this book and can't wait to read more of Kenneally's other Hundred Oaks books. Absolutely recommend to lovers of contemporary romance, that like their books fluffy but not all fluffy, or people who like too read books about tough issues but doesn't like the general sadness of those books. And of course runners (or aspirings runners).

domingo, 1 de fevereiro de 2015

Wrap-Up | January 2015

Hey guys, can you believe it's been one month since new year's? I can't! Time passes to fast when you're on vacations.


This month I read 11 books which I'm pleased with, it's what I should read to keep my Goodreads goal of 130 books & I did took a "week off" this month when I was at a more turist-y travel. My favorites of this month were: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen & Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally (review will be up soon)


On my 2015 challenges + the whole themed audiobook TBR that I tried to do this month I, well, absolutely and completely failed. I will NOT try to do TBR's anymore I just can't, is just becoming embarrassing how much I not stick to them - it's like if I want to not read a book I just book him on my TBR of the month. But the year is just starting, I will succeed on my challenges, even if not on my TBR's! 


I always watch more TV shows than movies so if I keep doing this expect more from the TV than from the theatres. The only movie that I remember having watched this month was The Woman in Black 2, which unfortunately didn't lived up to the first one, but I'm not a trusted resource since I ended up sleeping on the theater (for real). On my TV which I liked most to watch was: Parks and Recreation - the final season premiere this month and ohmygod I can't believe it's going to be over, too soon, too soon! Also on it's final season Hart of Dixie has been more adorable than ever, there is something so comforting about this series for me. Honorable mentions to Selfie - which I just finished watching the last episodes - and Red Band Society - which I didn't finished yet but ohmygod I already cried and laughed so much with this series!  



I have been on very slow indie sorta of mood for my musics since the ending of last year, one of my favorite albums to listen was rose ave. by You+Me - I've been obsessing with these songs since the released but now I was on a mood to listen to them on repeat. 



Just recently I also discovered that Sir Sly is the author for the song Ghost - which I was obsessing since I listened on Teen Wolf but couldn't find out of who it was - so now I'm listening to their newest album on repeat and it's exactly what I was on humor for on this exactly second, seriously so good!




Other band that I'm obsessing over is sirenXX which is terrible since they only have like one solo song (at least on spotify) so this makes me listen to the same song over and over and over - good thing the song is amazing! 



That was my month and what about yours? Was January good to you guys? What songs/books/movies did you liked the best? Tell me everything!