Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Half-Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date: October 18, 2011
Source: ARC from Publisher, thanks Kate!

Summary: The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

Review: Half-Blood rocked my world for the four days that I read it.

DO'S AND DONT'S WHILE READING HALF-BLOOD:

Do...cheer on Alex. Alex was such a strong, snarky character. I loved to cheer her on, see her fight and even watch her struggles. Alex is a character that I will want to see time and time again. Armentrout knew how to write a convincing strong, yet vulnerable, character.

Don't...have lots of homework when you read Half-Blood, like I did. Yet again this was a good thing. I got to savor Half-Blood and I enjoyed every minute of it. I didn't want to leave the world where Alex lived. The Covenant, where the Half-Bloods go to school, was an awesome environment.

Do...think Aiden is a hottie. He most definitely is. The forbidden romance between Aiden and Alex was complete sizzle. There is nothing better than a forbidden romance where the guy is so sweet and he has some serious fight moves.

Don't...underestimate the mythology Armentrout creates. Half-Blood was filled with daimons, half-bloods, pure-bloods, and you'll never expect all the things each one can do. I loved the mythology.

Half-Blood is definitely one of the must-read books of 2011. With characters that you can root for and spine-tingling forbidden romance, you'll fall in love, just like I did.

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (40)

Hi everyone, Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

This week's pick is:

Tempest by Julie Cross
January 3, 2012

The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

Tempest sounds like an amazing time travel book. Who can even get enough time travel?! This does remind me of some time jumping movie but I hope it manages to stay original. I'm also curious about having a male narrator, I love it when authors do this!
What are you waiting on?

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Title: The Juliet Spell
Author: Douglas Rees
Publisher: Harliquen Teen
Publication Date: September 27, 2011
Source: Thanks Harliquen and Netgalley!

Summary: I wanted the role of Juliet more than anything. I studied hard. I gave a great reading for it-even with Bobby checking me out the whole time. I deserved the part.

I didn't get it. So I decided to level the playing field, though I actually might have leveled the whole play. You see, since there aren't any Success in Getting to Be Juliet in Your High School Play spells, I thought I'd cast the next best-a Fame spell. Good idea, right?

Yeah. Instead of bringing me a little fame, it brought me someone a little famous. Shakespeare. Well, Edmund Shakespeare. William's younger brother.

Good thing he's sweet and enthusiastic about helping me with the play...and-ahem-maybe a little bit hot. But he's from the past. Way past. Cars amaze him-cars! And cell phones? Ugh.

Still, there's something about him that's making my eyes go star-crossed....

Review: The Juliet Spell was a very cute book filled with mischief, magic and the lesser known brother of William Shakespeare.

Like I said, The Juliet Spell is cute. Sometimes the cuteness of it just got to me. The cuteness became annoying and cringe worthy. That would be my biggest complaint out of everything in the book. Otherwise it was a really fun book.

If I had to describe the characters, I'd say they were chill, as in whatever happens just go with it. Nothing fazed these people. Edmund Shakespeare shows up and wow how cool, let's get him a fake birth certificate. This is actually didn't annoy me! The characters, while some were a little immature and unrealistic, were actually good people. That's what I like about characters when they're actual good people but with some imperfections.

The storyline was definitely interesting. I did enjoy it. A lot. My attention was captured through the entire book even when it was just too cute.

The Juliet Spell is a sweet, little read that it sometimes too cute but was some good characters.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Title: Tris and Izzie
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Publisher: Egmont USA
Publication Date: October 11, 2011
Source: Thanks Netgalley and Egmont!

Summary: A modern retelling of the German fairytale "Tristan and Isolde", Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.

Review: Tris and Izzie was definitely an interesting read.

I'm going to be honest and tell you that I really, really didn't like this book. I borderline hated it.

For starters the characters didn't work for me. Izzie had the narration of a 10 year-old. Her thoughts were not complex and neither was the writing. I have no problem with simple writing but this wasn't even simple it was something else entirely.

The romance between Tris and Izzie was there but it still felt so forced. I couldn't understand why they'd even like each other, even with the "love potion." I had an even bigger problem with the romance at the end after some things are revealed. Sorry if I'm being vague but I don't want to spoil the end.

I'm not overly familiar with the myth of Tristan and Isolde but this didn't really seem like it at all from what I researched on the Internet. It felt like a cheap version of events.

There are some big twists at the end that I didn't see coming and I appreciated that.

I don't want to tell you not to read Tris and Izzie, but I think this one would be better left on the bookstore shelf.

Rating:

In My Mailbox (49)

Hi everyone and welcome to a late IMM! IMM is hosted by The Story Siren!

The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton, I've wanted to read this one for such a long time.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin...I don't think I even have to say how much I want to read this one.

Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen, YAY for flappers!

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales, after reading Past Perfect I had to check out her other book.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, don't laugh everyone. This is about Gettysburg, I'm fairly sure. One of my friends Dad's loaned it to me. I can't wait to read it!

That's all for me, see you tomorrow for a review! 

Blog Happenings (40)

Hi everyone and Happy Saturday! I hope you aren't as tired as me, even after 12 hours of sleep. I, literally, just got up. But on to the books!

READING:

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout...WOW! I only have about 50 pages left and all I can think is this book is amazing

Enthralled by Various...I've read 6 stories so far and my favorite is definitely Red Run by Kami Garcia!

READ SINCE LAST POST:

Illusions by Aprilynne Pike...this book had a slow start but it was so worth reading.

The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees, pretty cute but definitely had some cringe worthy moments.

TWO BOOKS! This is where you all clap for me.

TO READ:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Without Tess by Marcella Pixley

I'm going to have to write a negative review for a book this week. I guess I just wanted to know your opinions on writing negative reviews.

I'm definitely not going to bash the book, but I will tell you why it didn't work for me. Is that okay, in your opinion?

BOOKS I REALLY NEED TO BUY:

Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen

I have this internal debate going on inside my head! I got the first book from the library and loved it but never bought it. Should I wait for the library or just get it?

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Well, I AM buying this one but to get it form Barnes and Noble or go see if they have it at Target or Wal-Mart (shudder). Have you read this one yet? Did you know there's going to be a fourth one in the series? Why couldn't it just end with this one?!

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

Another buy or library debate! I've heard amazing things about this and I'm still undecided. Maybe it's because my bookcases are overflowing!

I will see you  tomorrow and go check my 39 emails in my inbox now. Not being on the computer for 2 days makes a clean inbox busy. Seriously 39, when do I ever get that many emails?!

What to Read (3)

Hi all! Welcome to my new "thing" What to Read!

What to Read is a little post I'll do every Friday. It was started when a commenter asked me what my favorite Civil War books are. Obviously, I can't feature Civil War books each week but I can to a new topic...and this week's topic is:

DYSTOPIANS!

Ones I want to read, and ones I'd recommend!

Favorite Dystopians:

How could I not mention Delirium by Lauren Oliver! I LOVED this book when I read it. The concept of love being out-lawed is amazing. I can't wait for the second book!

Across the Universe by Beth Revis, is more sci-fi but still a dystopian to me. This book is out of this world, no pun intended. WOW!

Wither by Lauren DeStefano was such a sad read for me. The writing was beautiful and the characters were stellar.

Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky features a more than realistic topic. Seriously, read this book!

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver is just pure action fun. I loved the characters, the setting and all the demons.

Divergent by Veronica Roth deserves only a few words. Mind-bending AMAZING!

DYSTOPIANS I CANNOT WAIT TO READ:

 Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Have a great day!