It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (6)

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what books we've read, what we're currently reading, and what we're hoping to read. I don't even know what to say about this past week. Hectic would be a word I'd use, but let's get started, shall we?

Read:
Wish by Alexandra Bullen

Wishful Thinking by Alexandra Bullen (to be posted later on)

Reading:
Graceling by Kristin Cashore

To Read:
I honestly have no idea.

Fire by Kristin Cashore would be the most likely, though.

Wish by Alexandra Bullen

Genre: teen social issues

Age Group: Young Adult

Series and Book #: no series, book 1
Pages: 336
Synopsis: If you could have anything, what would you wish for? For brokenhearted Olivia Larsen nothing can change the fact that her twin sister, Violet, is gone...until a mysterious, beautiful gown arrives on her doorstep. The dress doesn't just look magical--it is magical. It has the power to grant her one wish, and the only thing Olivia wants is her sister back. With Violet again by her side, both girls get a second change at life. And as the sisters soon discover, they have two more dresses--and two more wishes left. But magic can't solve everything, and Olivia is forced to confront her ghosts to learn how to laugh, love, and live again.

~~

This was an amazing novel. Sure, it took me awhile to read it. It's very descriptive and is slow towards the beginning, but late last night I finished it and, man...this was a breathtaking novel. Bullen hit it spot on in Wish, depicting a struggling girl trying to understand her life without the sister that she loved.

I really loved Olivia. Her name's pretty, and she has a huge heart. She doesn't quite understand life without her sister and comes to conclusions about her life in Willis before she moved to San Francisco. She realizes that she just doesn't know how to live without her sister being gone and I really felt for her throughout the book. Her wishes weren't stupid and I didn't hold her over the last wish, the one she mistakenly made. She was a lovable character that I came to, well, love.

Violet was somewhat annoying. The way she coached Olivia on how to live was nice of her, but when she told Olivia about what she had done to Olivia and Soren's relationship (Soren being Olivia's boyfriend) I was about ready to wish her goodbye. But Violet really loved her sister and she loved her family. She wanted to live again, but couldn't, and you could see that she was having a hard time understanding it all when she saw her parents and Olivia living. Violet struck nerves, but she was a thoughtful character.

Over all, I thought that Wish was a wonderful novel on how to live your life to the very end. Olivia was sweet and kind; Violet was lively for a ghost; and the other characters really sold the book for me. It wasn't just Olivia trying to cope with Violet's death, it was her parents. And the side characters really made the novel in my opinion. Such a beautiful book.

The Cover: This cover is pretty and I love the font they used for the title. The model looks exactly like what I pictured Olivia to look like, and the stars with the dress were really apart of the novel. A very pretty cover that doesn't have too much flash.

Lets Talk Covers: The Faeriewalker Series by Jenna Black

I've heard many good things about the Faeriewalker series, although I haven't read them myself. I especially love the covers of these books, Sirensong being my favorite.

I see the point the artists were trying to make in Glimmerglass, although the darkness of the background threw me. The model is very pretty, and the smoke around her face is beautiful. I don't know if the dots are there for glitter, or if they're just fillers. I don't think they stand out as much as they do in Shadowspell. It's a very pretty cover, and I like the dark-light contrast that's going on.

Shadowspell looked beautiful...from a distance. As soon as I saw it up close, I took a double take. On the deer or moose or whatever is in her hands. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for the deer/moose, but it looks strange in her hands. The model, again, is beautiful and the smoke is very enchanting, but the dots this time just look a little out of place. I don't know if they're reflective and the Internet can't show me that, or if they actually are that flat. Either way, this wasn't my favorite cover.

Sirensong is just amazing. The model is wonderful and the flower petals are just right. The dots look more in place. The cover looks a little out of place for the series, seeing how it's much lighter than the others and has pink and white rather than dark blue and a purplish color. It's a very light booking book and I think it sounds intriguing, especially the siren part of sirensong. I've always been a fan of mermaids, and I love when they're incorporated into YA novels also.

(There's another companion novel, Remedial Magic, that's for Kindle on Amazon. Don't know if you have a Kindle, but if you're a fan and you do, here you go!)

Daily Dose (5)

Daily Dose is a meme hosted by Good Golly Miss Holly where we share inspirational photos we've found.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (5)

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey where we share what books we've read, what we're currently reading, and what we hope to read. My, my, the week has flown by (no rhyme intended) and I've read two wonderful books!

Read:

Matched by Ally Condie

Vampire Crush by A. M. Robinson

Reading:
Wish by Alexandra Bullen

To Read:

Wishful Thinking by Alexandra Bullen

Virals by Kathy Reichs 

Vampire Crush by A. M. Robinson

Genre: teen fantasy

Age Group: Young Adult

Series and Book #: no series, book 1
Pages: 416
Synopsis: I swear, my life was always totally normal. Normal house, normal family, normal school. My looks are average, I don't have any superpowers, no one's showing up to tell me I'm a princess--you get the picture. But when my junior year started, something not normal happened. There were new kids at school...new kids with a wardrobe straight out of a 19th-century romance novel, and an inexplicable desire to stay at school until sundown. And on top of that, James Hallowell showed up. James, who stole my sandwiches in fourth grade and teased me mercilessly through middle school. James, who now seems to have the power to make my heart race any time he comes near. But something weird is going on. Because James rarely goes out during the day. And he seems stronger than your typical guy. And he knows the new kids, all of whom seem to be harboring some kind of deep secret....

~~

I know that the synopsis sounds really dumb, and honestly, it looks like a Twilight wanna be. But once I started it, it was clear that this had no intention of being a Twilight wanna be.

This was hilarious, sarcastic, witty, and a whole different look on vampires. It mixes popular culture with the original vampire myths, which is very hard to do when you have Stephanie Meyer as your competition. Robinson wrote Sophie as a normal girl who wants to stay normal and doesn't mind her obscurity in high school. And then the new kids come, and she doesn't think they're normal from the beginning considering that one (namely one named Violet) wears dresses from the mid-1800's.

Speaking of the vampires, they were so funny! They hardly knew anything about modern day and were still living in their times, even though they knew what was happening around them. I thought the plot was just about Sophie figuring out that her classmates were vampires, but then it got way more interesting when you figure out that Vlad (main evil vampire) wants to find a girl that may bring him out of obscurity. So awesome!!!

Over all, Vampire Crush was adorable, witty, and hilarious. Sophie was a sweet and strong MC who knew what had to be done and was determined to get it done. And James, oh my goodness, James. Amazing!! It was really funny when he read her thoughts when she didn't realize it. I could go on and on about this book, but I'll just say that you should add this to your TBR pile or your MRL. This is one of those diamond-in-the-rough books!

The Cover: I don't really get this cover, and I don't think that it portrays the book well, but I like the little bat in the middle.

Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

Genre: teen science fiction and dystopian
Age Group: Young Adult
Series and Book #: Matched, book 1
Pages: 384
Synopsis: In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is teh one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow--between perfection and passion.

~~

I had heard amazing things about this book, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that it would be great. But I never thought it would be AMAZING!

The beginning bugged me, the way Cassia fawned over the Society and how great it is, and how perfect everything is. It creeped me out, too, because the Society measured everything and predicted everything. They predicted who Cassia would be Matched with, they predicted she'd come in second in a race up a hill, they predicted when she was too tired to run anymore on her tracker. It was so precise and purposeful. The Society sounded perfect, with no blemishes or scars, but they way they handled everything, resorting to violence when nothing seemed to work. They pushed Cassia to her edge, which was bold of them.

Cassia is an interesting character. She loves the Society and their choices, but she doesn't totally trust them. She knows that Xander should be her Match, but her love for Ky runs deeper than her love for Xander, which was so awesome. The romance development between Cassia and Ky was suspenseful and kept me reading.

Over all, Matched was just totally amazing. It grabbed you and pulled you in. It showed you flaws and outrageous ideas and events. It made you feel, like every book should. I loved the characters in this book, how they surprise you. Truly amazing. Add to your TBR pile or MRL.

The Cover: This is a perfect image of how Cassia feels trapped by the Society and I loved the incorporation of her Matched dress.