Sunday, September 22, 2013

Adrian's Lost Chapter by Richelle Mead

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Adrian's Lost Chapter by Richelle Mead

4 stars

I don't like Adrian in the time during VA and before he met Sydney and so it's no surprise that I'm not as madly in love with him in this POV than I will be when I read The Fiery Heart. I love Adrian and he has his faults. One of them being drinking and partying. It's one of the reasons why I never particularly liked him and plus he's so serious in his mind. I don't like it. I want funny joking Adrian and I know I won't get that in the aftermath of Rose's heartbreaking. Anyway, this isn't bad and I did enjoy it, but I'm not fangirling like I was when I got Dimitri's POV for The Meeting. I think it's a good idea that Richelle didn't do alternating POVs before the story started because it would've been too much.

If you want to read the chapter, you can read it here.

Cover Wars #4

Welcome to my third edition of Cover Wars!

I think I've seen a few other blogs do similar things like this at some point or another, but since I'm too lazy to post a review, here's what I'll post when I have nothing else!

A Basic Overview:

What is Covers Wars? Well, for my version of Cover Wars I have two sections. One section is the original cover versus the new cover or paperback vs. hardcover. Then the second section is English/American cover vs. a foreign cover that I've found and have an opinion. I'll showcase each cover and give an opinion. Why I really want to do this is to see people's different opinions on covers. So, please leave your reactions in the comments! That sounds really formal! Just tell me if you like the cover or not or any thoughts at all! I'll get my sister to make a banner for me later on to use it as a header! (She's the creative/ techy one.)

Let's begin with the results of last week!:)
The Covers That Won:
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1357523810445307
I'm really surprised with how many votes I got on last weeks post! Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote.:) Twilight's and Before I Die's cover were unanimous wins. The UK version of Starcrossed has finally been defeated by the Swedish edition with 4 to 2 votes. The Between Shades of Gray covers were neck and neck, but someone really loved the Australian and it beat the hardcover by one vote! To see last weeks cover wars click here.

Today is the fourth round of cover wars!!!! I'm so happy to do this little war and it has become really fun! So without further ado, here are the nominees for this week.

The Original VS. THE NEW:
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Original VS. Movie Edition 1
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight's covers have all been battled and won't be making an appearance in the foreign edition section for a while, but now we have its sequel, New Moon.
Thoughts:
I actually like the movie cover. I think it's the gold color that I find appealing to my eye. I do love the original cover, but why can't it have the pretty gold on it? It would be a win and a perfect cover. I think I'll go with the original though because I'm not a fan of Edward and Bella's faces. Taylor or Jacob which ever one can stay because I would definitely have bought the cover if it was just him on it.;)

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Flower Cover (Winner from Last Week) VS. Girl Cover
Before I Die by Jenny Downham 
This week we have the winner from last week and the cover that I had while reading.  
Thoughts:
I love, love the flower cover. It's just so simple and pretty. I know, we have another girl cover for this book, but I actually like this one more the more that I look at it. There's just something about the look in the model's eyes that screams "Tessa" to me. I remember that when I read the book I couldn't look at the cover because it felt like I was looking into Tessa's soul. This is a tie for me and I can't decide which on I love more because the model one is starting to be more impacting the more I stare.

The English (Or Winner from Last Week) VS. Foreign Edition: 
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The Swedish (Winner from Last Week) VS. Russian
Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
This is the last time this book will be featured on cover wars unless I come across a new updated version at some point!
Thoughts:
I'm again going to say the Swedish version. Hey, American publishers! You might you want to market this cover for your book. I would definitely buy a copy! The Russian cover is really pretty and if we were comparing it to the U.S. one I would say it's the better dress and cover.

The Australian Edition (Winner) VS. Dutch

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Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
This will also be Between Shades of Gray's last time in Cover Wars until a new version comes out.
Thoughts:
Between Shades of Gray has a lot of beautiful covers and I just want to say that I won't be showcasing them all because some are very similar or I just don't have an opinion on them and am neutral to the covers. I actually love the Dutch version. This is how I pictured Lina. While I love the Dutch version and think it's probably one of the best modeling covers I've ever seen, I do really the Australian. It's a tie for me.

What are your favorites? Is it both hardcovers or paperbacks? Or do you like foreign editions more than American? Leave your thoughts in the comments!Let the wars begin and may the covers ever be in your favor!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

A Matter of Fate by Ellie Heller

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A Matter of Fate by Ellie Heller

2 stars (DNF)

From what I read someone started to set death spells on mortals and werewolves, who apparently are also elves (?) and a Warder (in training) Mona’s friend has some spell cast on her and then her teacher is acting funny and there’s some random action and then a shifter guy that makes Mona want get down and dirty after only knowing each other for about five pages. That’s what I gathered. I’ll put the actual summary on my blog at the bottom of my review. I would probably rate this lower, but since I didn’t get further than 70-something pages I don’t think it’s fair to give it one star. Although I’m sure if I got to page 150 like I planned I would have given it just that. I feel terrible that I’m not able to finish this book since I was kindly gifted it, but this book makes my brain hurt. It’s just so… all over the place and not thought out. I can’t read a book that throws random stuff at me and then info-dumps random information at me. Mona also talked really weird and she was boring. That scene with random guy, summary says his name is Cart, where he sucked food off her finger and then told her he wanted to combust with her made me choke/ shiver from the weirdness. Who says stuff like that? If the writing was cleaner this probably could’ve been a really good book or even a likable one, but due the fact that this book is slow, random, and not well written I find myself not caring to continue on and I don’t think reading should feel like a chore. So I’m DNFing this.


Note: This is a short review and will not contain character ratings, due the fact that I didn't get very far.

Cover Thoughts: It's very Harlequin. Not a bad cover, but I don't think the girl on it was necessary. The tiger eyes and snow would've been just fine together.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Dancing with the Devil by Keri Arthur

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Dancing with the Devil by Keri Arthur

First in the Nikki & Michael series

2.5 stars

Nikki James is a Private Investigator with a past that has been haunting her for years and an ability that has done nothing but harm people. Everything changes for Nikki when she follows a teenager named Monica Trevgard who reminds her of herself into the shadows and finds herself ensnared in war between two men that aren’t human. Michael Kelly came to Lyndhurst to protect Nikki and ends up finding his archenemy, who is now targeting Nikki for death. Michael’s existed in the shadows for 300 years and never thought he was capable of love, but Nikki may be the one to change it all for him. Nikki’s psychic abilities and dark past are catching up to her and it won’t be easy to win her heart. Let me say this, I was actually really excited to read Dancing with the Devil because I had found the book a few years ago and it sounded totally awesome. It wasn’t that awesome. I’m not really sure what to say, but while reading I came up with a pretty interesting idea for my review. Since we just finished studying the classifications of life, I thought why not see if Michael is considered living or nonliving. I know what you’re probably thinking, all vampires are dead so they are no longer living, which is true but I’ve come across vampires that were much more alive than some humans.


How to Determine if Your Vampire is Living or Nonliving in ITALICSDancing with the DeviITALICSl:
1) Made up of cells?
A: I’m pretty sure Michael and Jasper were made of cells. If not they once wouldn’t have been human.
2) Able to reproduce?
A: It’s never discussed in the book because Arthur probably sees no point in mentioning it. I want to know because most books about vampires mention it.
3) DNA or genetic code?
A: At one point, so yes.
4) Able to grow and develop?
A: Once upon a time. I think Michael has already developed into a full human, but I know Jasper is still technically a teenager since it seems that his development/ growth was stopped after being turned.
5) Obtain and use materials and energy?
A: BLOOD! All the blood you can get your fangs on.
6) Respond to their environment?
A: Better than humans because they have super-senses.
7) Homeostasis (stable internal environment)?
A: Probably thinking I would say no, but Nikki says that Michael is warm and I’m pretty sure that that is a sign of homeostasis. He’s no Edward.
8) Evolvement in species?
A: It’s never discussed so I can’t say.
Results: 6/8, but since two questions weren’t answered I’m resulting in this experiment as inclusive until further notice.


I honestly don’t have much to say about this book and that was just a fun way to entertain myself. I will say that I’m tired of these cliché vampires that haven’t lived half-a -millennia. You can’t be a cool vampire if you’re 300 or 100 years old. In my opinion, you’re a baby and while you have experience you haven’t seen enough of the world. For a good part of the beginning of the book there was absolutely no character development, but just action scene after action scene. Even all those action scenes started to dwindle to nothing.


The main female character is Nikki. Nikki is one of the most desperate characters I’ve ever encountered. You know jokes about thirsty girls that have become popular, well this book was originally released in 2001 and Nikki is one of the original heroines of thirsty girls. She’s constantly throwing herself at Michael and the first time they have sex is because she uses him to get Jasper’s darkness from her mind. She’s also incredibly stupid. I’m stubborn, but not to the point where I’ll throw myself into situations that result in me getting mauled and kidnapped by zombies repeatedly. There is also no sexual tension or anything between Nikki and Michael. I’m just not feeling their romance and it doesn’t make me swoon or wish for my own boyfriend. In fact, Nikki and Michael’s relationship is so bland and boring that I could probably find two stray animals that have a better love story. Nikki is also like a depressed teenager who thinks she’s not good enough for love. I didn’t sign up for the adult version of Twilight. I wanted something unique and badass not filled with teenage angst in an adult story. Nikki is also always beating herself down and I know that a lot of people do that, but she was beating herself up over being alone even though she was the one pushing Michael away. You know what I have to say to that and your sob story, Nikki?


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4
The main male character is Michael. He’s better than Nikki, but not by much. I find him to be completely lacking in a personality or substance. We also don’t find out from the author that he’s a vampire until around the 15% mark, which is quite far into the story and we’ve already had multiple POVs from him. I dislike greatly when authors do this. He’s not keeping a secret from himself and I don’t get why for such a long freaking time he couldn’t admit to himself that he was a vampire in his internal monologue of moodiness. Michael is also another Edward Cullen in terms of moodiness and I’m just so over it.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 5

The Villain- Jasper wasn’t half bad for a villain. He was probably the coolest character in the novel. He’s sadistic, has mad psychic powers, can raise his victims from the dead into zombies, and can easily manipulate an idiotic teenager into doing his beck and calling. So, Jasper is pretty badass in my view. I definitely would run as far away from his sadistic self if he was real.


Villain Scale: 9
The only other characters were Monica and Jake. Monica was irrelevant and who cares about her dumb self for getting caught up with Jasper. Jake is actually pretty cool though and he’s a father-figure to Nikki. He‘s always there for her and I like how he actually cares about people.


Character Scale: 7

One of the most annoying things about Nikki and Michael is that they are broken records of emotions. They repeatedly think the same thought, but in different wording on ONE page. It’s ridiculous. During halfway through the book, it was like the storyline evaporated and this became the huge plot:
Nikki having sex with Michael and refusing to talk about Tommy. Who is Tommy you ask? Well, Tommy is Nikki’s boyfriend from the past who also had psychic abilities. She didn’t talk about what he did to her at all until 61% and she didn’t even internally think about what happened, but it was just constant “Michael’s another Tommy.”


This gif describes how I felt the whole entire time while reading.  I have nothing else to say other than I’ll be reading the sequel, but I won’t be afraid to DNF or drop the series if it sucks.


Cover Thoughts: The new cover is definitely better than the old one. I like it, but I don’t love it. It’s pretty standard PNR/UF cover.

Thank you, Netgalley and Dell for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Cover Wars #3

Welcome to my third edition of Cover Wars!

I think I've seen a few other blogs do similar things like this at some point or another, but since I'm too lazy to post a review, here's what I'll post when I have nothing else!

A Basic Overview:

What is Covers Wars? Well, for my version of Cover Wars I have two sections. One section is the original cover versus the new cover or paperback vs. hardcover. Then the second section is English/American cover vs. a foreign cover that I've found and have an opinion. I'll showcase each cover and give an opinion. Why I really want to do this is to see people's different opinions on covers. So, please leave your reactions in the comments! That sounds really formal! Just tell me if you like the cover or not or any thoughts at all! I'll get my sister to make a banner for me later on to use it as a header! (She's the creative/ techy one.)

Let's begin with the results of last week!:)
The Covers That Won:
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9721690 31578774872347
There was an obvious agreement that both Generation Dead covers were terrible so it's a tie and I don't want to just completely exclude it from the post, so I'm posting both covers. If you want to see the post from last week, here's a link.

Now, let's do the third round! (I'm honestly not sure how long I'll be doing this for, but I really enjoy this feature so hopefully for a while.)

The Original VS. THE NEW:
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Original (Winner from Last Week) VS. Movie Edition 2
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
 The original cover for Twilight won last week and this is the second movie edition cover. It isn't as popular as the Edward + Bella one, but I have seen this one around. I also sadly had this on a poster when I was a Twihard.
Thoughts:
Again, I'm going with the original. Nothing against the movie cover, but I just think it's ugly in book form.

1314332  8582039
Flower Cover VS. Girl Cover
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Before I Die has a lot of covers and I'm not sure how if these are foreign because I've seen them here, but I'm confused because there are so many versions. Anyway, I think I like the dandelion (don't quote me on that I'm terrible with remembering plants' names) cover better than the girl one. The blue and the dandelion just speaks to me. As someone who has read the book, I can see the dandelion as a symbol for Tessa and the little stems breaking off as her letting herself go before she dies. The girl cover looks nothing like Tessa because Tessa has cancer and hardly any hair and she has hair and it reminds of a contemporary or Jodi Picoult novel.

The English (Or Winner from Last Week) VS. Foreign Edition
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The U.K. Edition (Winner from Last Week) VS. Swedish
Starcrossed  by Josephine Angelini
We have the previous winner from the past two wars, the UK edition, and the Swedish edition. 
Thoughts:
Last week it was obvious that the UK version had a chance, but the Swedish edition is definitely striking. In fact, I think the UK version has finally met its match. I love the Swedish cover. I mean look at it! It's so pretty and I wish my hair did that. Also the title brings back memories of MCR. *cries* Swedish is definitely my pick.


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The Hardcover VS. UK or Australian Edition (I'm not sure which one it is)
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Didn't think you would see this book pop on here again, did you? Since the hardcover won the first cover war it only makes sense that it would go against the foreign editions.
Thoughts:
I actually really love the foreign edition. It just reminds me of the story and Lina's time in Siberia. I do like the hardcover, but something about the foreign edition makes me want to stare at it forever.

What are your favorites? Is it both hardcovers or paperbacks? Or do you like foreign editions more than American? Leave your thoughts in the comments!Let the wars begin!

Friday, September 13, 2013

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

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A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

First in The Colors of Madeline trilogy

4 stars

Madeline and her mother have run away from her life to Cambridge. Elliot is in search of his father in the Kingdom of Cello. Elliot’s story is much more complex than Madeline’s. His family is the talk of his little farming town called Bonfire. Elliot’s father may have killed his father and ran away with his Physics teacher and Elliot refuses to believe that. He searches high and low in the Kingdom of Cello hoping to find his father and one day Elliot and Madeline’s two very separate worlds come together in the form of a letter begging for help. This book has a lot going on in 373 pages that feel more like 600. There were times when reading A Corner of White felt more like a chore than reading, but this book is incredibly enjoyable once you get passed the few snags. This book took me over a month to read and I feel incredibly bad that it took so long. I also went way past my library overdue, but what’s a book-loving girl to do? I’m incredibly behind on reviews and am reviewing this quickly before I must return it. Moriarty is quite the lyrical writer. Her story flows and she has so many beautiful quotes; with most lyrical writers there are snags and a few boring bits. Another thing that annoyed me at first with the multiple POVs; there are at least ten different perspectives in A Corner of White. It bothered me at first, but it was mostly because I was only expecting Madeline and Elliot’s POVs. Once I got passed that I would be seeing two different worlds threw different eyes, I got used to the flow of the story and by the end I actually liked the alternating POVs.


I have quite a few questions surrounding the Kingdom of Cello. I don’t know, maybe I’m just not quick to catching on with so many descriptions and different cultures to take in, but I don’t get these Colors at all. From what I’ve gathered, they attack villages and create havoc. There are different Colors and levels and I found that easy to understand, but then Elliot would explain something about manipulating Colors and I was lost and confused. Instead of going back and rereading it multiple times (which only makes me zone out even more) I decided to read on and hope it would be further explained or mentioned. It was mentioned again and I was still utterly confused. I do love the concept surrounding the Kingdom of Cello though and I love where this story ended and is taking off to for the sequel. Before I address any more problems let’s talk about the characters.


The main female character is Madeline. I like Madeline, but at the same time I don’t. She’s an interesting character and she reminds me a lot of someone that would be better suited for Wonderland than the real world.

But then I would remember that she’s only thirteen or fourteen years old and she’s still growing up. Granted I’m not much older than Madeline but her brain is all over the place. She is very bright and intelligent for her age though. She’s quite fascinated with Isaac Newton, which probably seems pointless in this review, but is crucial to the story. I found her little quirks to be amusing and she is a “mad” (by mad I mean slightly crazy) character.
 


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 8

The main male character is Elliot. I will forever remember his last name, which Baranski. I’ve never seen a character’s last name mentioned as much as his was. His name is literally in all the people in the town of Bonfire’s mouths. He is the town’s hero and everyone seems to look up to Elliot, even the adults. Elliot is easier to like than Madeline, but at the same time he’s also easier to hate. I wasn’t even planning on mentioning this, but he ends up dating his best friend, Kayla, and (view spoiler) Aside from that, I’m quite fond of Elliot. He is a bit of a condescending player and he doesn’t seem to care a whole lot about other people’s feelings. I hope he gets more character growth in the sequel.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 8.5

The Villain- I honestly wasn’t expecting the story to take this turn at all. I have feeling there will be politics surrounding the Kingdom in the future and I’m not the biggest fan of that, but I’m a fan of this book and hopefully it’ll be an exception. (view spoiler)


Villain Scale: 8.5

There are probably around 50 characters in this book. There are a lot of characters mentioned and all of them are essential to the story in some way, but I’ll talk about a few. From the “Real World” there’s: Jack, Belle, Madeline’s mother, and all of the teachers that home school Jack, Madeline, and Belle. Jack was really annoying at first, but I began to like him further into the book and I liked the small little romance between Jack and Madeline, but I honestly don’t see it going anywhere. Belle, who I think is better suited for Jack and that Madeline needs to open her eyes and see this as well. Madeline’s mother is a refreshing because she isn’t the usual trope of a mother that is never there. I was scared for her towards the end though because Madeline would’ve ended up alone. My favorite of Madeline’s teachers was the one who taught, probably illegally, at Cambridge and gave them an assignment that introduced Madeline to Isaac Newton. In Cello there’s: the Sherriff, Elliot’s mom, Elliot’s cousin, Derwin, the Twinklehams, the princesses, and Elliot’s friends. I really liked the Sherriff and the guy that he worked with. Those POVs were quite interesting and gave a lot of information to the working of Bonfire. I’m quite confused about what happened to the Sherriff at the beginning of the book though.
"By the time he got there, the fifth level Gray had torn bloody stripes into the Sheriff's bare hands and right across the flesh of his face, it had ripped through the cartilage in his knee."
I thought Color attacks were lethal and this sounds pretty serious, but he seemed to heal quickly. I liked Elliot’s mom and one of her talks with Elliot really made me feel for her and how she was dealing with Elliot’s father leaving. Elliot’s cousin (whose name I can’t remember) is very cute and I love how she built the Butterfly Child a house for her to live in before she even arrived in Bonfire, she also made friends with Derwin, a girl that didn’t talk and who I quite liked. The Twinklehams, who I had sympathy for when Elliot’s friends were wreaking havoc on them, the princesses whose columns were featured in the newspapers. I found the princesses to be slightly annoying and ditzy, but I totally wasn’t expecting that ending and I can’t wait to see where all this leads to with Princess Ko.
 

Character Scale: 8

One of my favorite things about A Corner of White is that this book seems very light and easy to read, but really it is a very dark story. I noticed towards the end of the book that Madeline was the person that did the leaving because she ran away and Elliot was the one who was left by his father. I noticed this before they even realized how they balanced each other out, so I win!
“If you were so happy in your life before, he said, how come you were always running away?”
I also realized thought how Elliot thought Madeline’s initials sounded like empty (M.T.) to be hilariously cute and it was little things like that that made me love the book. This book made me laugh and cry all at once. I had an extreme case of happy tears.

There is also no romance between Elliot and Madeline and I’m hoping there will be because it will be amazing and it must happen. And I love this quote so here’s a quote:
”You held the fixed stars in place for me and you stopped them from falling.”

 

Cover Thoughts: I dislike the American cover so much. It is so unappealing compared to the Australian. The Australian cover is beautiful and I think it fits the book. Yes, this cover fits the book, but it just looks so childish and the girl’s face bothers me. 
 


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Cover Wars #2

Welcome to my second edition of Cover Wars!

I think I've seen a few other blogs do similar things like this at some point or another, but since I'm too lazy to post a review, here's what I'll post when I have nothing else!

A Basic Overview:

What is Covers Wars? Well, for my version of Cover Wars I have two sections. One section is the original cover versus the new cover or paperback vs. hardcover. Then the second section is English/American cover vs. a foreign cover that I've found and have an opinion. I'll showcase each cover and give an opinion. Why I really want to do this is to see people's different opinions on covers. So, please leave your reactions in the comments! That sounds really formal! Just tell me if you like the cover or not or any thoughts at all! I'll get my sister to make a banner for me later on to use it as a header! (She's the creative/ techy one.)

Let's begin with the results of last week!:D
The Covers That Won:
7824322 16074613
16081272 9721690

Gorgeous aren't they? If you missed last weeks and want to check it out here's a link.

On to the second round of Cover Wars!

The Original VS. The New

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Original Cover VS. Movie Edition 1
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight i s one of the most well known books and I figured it wouldn't be fair to leave them out of this. I did once love Twilight and they will have a place in my heart, they are just no longer books I love.
Thoughts:
I personally like the original cover way more. I had the movie edition cover when reading and I automatically pictured Edward and Bella as Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson even though there descriptions were different. The original cover just looks so pretty. The winner will go against the second movie edition.

6064646 8183728
Hardcover VS. Paperback
The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore
I wasn't a huge fan of The Splendor Falls. I was fooled by a gorgeous cover and received a not so gorgeous inside.
Thoughts:
I loveeeeeeeeeeee the paperback! I usually don't like covers with dresses, but this cover is absolutely gorgeous in person. I almost kept the book for that reason alone, but it was taking up space for better books. I do really like the hardback, but the coldness of the paperback reminds of Sophie (I think that was her name) and how much of a cold person she was and ghosts= cold spots (there were a lot of those in the book).

The English (Or Winner from Last Week) VS. Foreign Edition

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The U.K. Edition (Winner from Last Week) VS.  Portuguese Edition
Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
Thoughts:
I prefer the U.K. edition to the Portuguese. The Portuguese on just reminds of witches and Helen wasn't a witch. Starcrossed has several different versions, but I'll only feature a few. The winner will be going against another foreign edition next week!

3157877 4872347
English Edition VS. Spanish Edition
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters 
I really enjoyed this zombie story. It's more of a contemporary zombie tale than an apocalyptic one. Definitely check it out if you're interested!
Thoughts:

I think I like the Spanish more than the English edition. The English edition just looks so off and I never really liked the cover. The makeup on the girl is terrible and there aren't even main characters that are cheerleaders (zombiewise). The Spanish one is way better, even if it is cliche.

What are your favorites? Is it both hardcovers or paperbacks? Or do you like foreign editions more than American? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Friday, September 6, 2013

Night by Elie Wiessel

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Night by Elie Wiesel

5 stars

Night is about Elie Wiesel’s time during Nazi death camps and the horror that he faced as a teenager during World War II as he watched the death of family, his innocence, perception of life, and belief in his God. There are certain books out there that are just meant to be written. I understand completely why Elie kept his story a secret until he found the right way to account his tragic story. Words are powerful and Elie Wiesel’s memoir about his time during World War II is one of the hardest books I’ve ever read. There are books out there, like Between Shades of Gray, which are great books, but they aren’t based on complete fact. They are fiction that’s based on real events and while those books impact me and make me cry this book ripped my soul in half and tore my heart in shreds. I loved Night. It’s one of the best books I’ve read about a historical event and it’s my first memoir/ biography that is an actual novel and not an excerpt. This is one of those books that made me sit down and really think about humanity and the choices that people make. I still have so many questions about so many things surrounding the Holocaust and the things that took place. This is my favorite required school read that I’ve ever read.


Since it’s a required read, I had to take notes in a dialectical journal and I’ve written down so much about what transpired in just 115 pages. This book flew by for me and Elie Wiesel’s story is just beautifully written and every word evokes images or thoughts and it made me think. School reads hardly ever do that for me, but for once I fell in love with a book that I was forced to read. I’m reviewing this book differently because it’s based on someone’s life and so there are no characters, but actual human beings. Every person in this book was real and they weren’t a figment of Elie’s imagination, but someone he knew and talked to. I hadn’t really realized that the people around him were just as real until that final march at the end of the book.


This book is incredibly impactful and I can’t recommend it enough. There are books out there that must be read before you die and Night is one of them. Elie’s account is heartbreaking and it will make you look at things in a new light. This book is just so good and I can’t stress that enough. I’m sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I just… no words can express how beautiful this book. Is that how Elie felt before he told his story of Night and the horrors he faced? As if no words are good enough and no words will ever be able to express the feelings or thoughts during his time? That’s how I feel about this book. Words just don’t even come close to expressing the beauty in words and horror of life being taken away at the hands of human beings that I’ve experienced reading. This book has changed me in ways. It’s made me look at everything in a different way. People need to be cherished and not extinguished.


(Me reading my copy of Night.)

Cover Thoughts: I can see what my teacher meant now when she said that the cover didn't do this book justice. It totally doesn't.



Blog Tour: The Last Storm by Tim Lebbon

 Hello, everyone! Today I am a part of the blog tour for Tim Lebbon's new and upcoming 2022 release, THE LAST STORM. The Last Storm will...