GoodRead - Allegiant

This is going to be a hard review to write. I finished this book late Tuesday night, writing the review Wednesday and am going to put this online on Thursday. So me writing a review this quickly is very rare, but I think I need to write this and share my feels towards you guys. I will try my UTMOST to keep this review of Allegiant as SPOILER-FREE as possible (but I might have to spoil over the previous two books within this trilogy, Divergent and Insurgent).

So... here we go.

After the shocking ending of Insurgent, all hell has broken loose. The factions have shattered, people are torn over what to do and Tris is stuck in the middle of it all. So when she, Tobias and a few others are offered the chance to escape into a world outside the city, she takes it. Maybe she and Tobias can have a life together, away from violence, deaths and betrayal.

Except that this new world is far more alarming than the one she left behind. New truths make old discoveries meaningless and will change the hearts of people around her. Soon, Tris has to fight once more...

Now, where on earth do I start?

This final book in the trilogy will divide the fandom. I stayed as far away from spoilers/reviews as much as possible (and I wasn't spoiled!) but I have heard that some readers who read this within days of release either really loved it or really hated it. The reason for this is because there is one HUGE twist and this twist is causing waves. I didn't see it coming (and I was trying to second guess what this twist was going to be!) and I can kinda see why this twist had to happen but I was there going "DID SHE HONESTLY DO THAT?!"

This book is a very different book compared to Divergent and Insurgent. It felt, to me, a little more political and a little more personal. We see Tris and Tobias talk and fight and make-up. This book dealt with this issues while moving at speed, though there were times the story did drag, if I am completely honest with you. Another problem with this is Four's point of view. At times, it felt like his story was slower pace than Tris's.

I am struggling to write this. Just so you know. This is HARD to write!

This series is wonderful. It's one of the best dystopian trilogies out in YA at the present moment. Maybe, dare I say it, even better than the Hunger Games.

If you are a fan of the trilogy, then you have to read this. This will be the most emotional of the three. Veronica Roth is a brilliant writer and I demand more from her (thank goodness for the Four: A Divergent Collection will be out in hardback next year!), but I think I need time to get over this book. I need to mourn this book and, maybe next year, I shall reread the whole trilogy.

SMILE - Worst Way To Spend A Saturday Night?

I can't remember watching this episode of Channel 4's 8 Out Of 10 Cats but I do love Sarah Millican so THANKS SARAH!

GoodRead - The Authoritative Calvin & Hobbes

Here is my antidote for all the scary Halloween reads. Oh yeah, I'm a real rebel (note the gentle sarcasm in those words). Anyway, this was super cheap on Amazon (1p plus £2.80 P&P) hence me buying it and talking about it now.

So, as you are aware if you have read my previous Calvin and Hobbes reviews (It's A Magical World and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes), I fully blame Laura from SisterSpooky for introducing me to these characters so BLAME HER, FOLKS!

Calvin and Hobbes: your average six year old boy and his best friend in the whole wide world, his toy tiger, trying to make sense of the world around him by asking the big questions: "Why are we here?", "Are we destroying the planet?", "How does one survive camping when it rains NON STOP?" and taking the mickey out of politics, sports, and life in general.

I liked this collection (for those of you wondering, this omnibus contains Yukon Ho! and Weirdos from Another Planet). There were things I sniggered, went "awww!" and remembered what it was like to be that age (I shudder to think what my family would say about me at that age) while getting the humour Bill gave Calvin's parents.

But I didn't love it. And I have NO IDEA WHY!!! I think it's because I adore It's A Magical World and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes so much that it was going to be really hard for this book to match up to them.

But I think anyone would read this and love it. Well, if you read any Calvin and Hobbes, I think you will fall under its spell. This is wonderful cartoon series and I dare anyone to not fall in love with these characters. Now, I WANT A TOY TIGER!!!

Now, here is a random strip I know is in the edition, just to wet your appetite. Enjoy!

Books And Their Theme Songs - Volume 20

Everyone ready for the ghost and ghouls? If you're not, you're in the same boat as me (I get freaked out easily) so here, to hopefully lessen the blow, here is the 20th edition of Books and Their Theme Songs, covering the months of September and October! ENJOY!

MORE THAN THIS by Patrick Ness
"Maybe" by Kelly Clarkson


INFINITYGLASS by Myra McEntire
"5am" by Katy B


TAINTED by AE Rought
"You Will Be Mine" by Lenka, "My Blood" & "Dead In The Water" by Ellie Goulding

OBSIDIAN by Jennifer L. Armentrout
"Magnetic" by Jessie J

SMILE - Can... Can I Haunt You?

My thanks to Serifinaxxx's tumblr (aka Death, Books and Tea) for this one. And just in time for Halloween...

Hot Key Books/Templar Books/Piccadilly Press Book Brunch

So, the Saturday just gone (while I was in my Mini-RSM), I went to Hot Key Books HQ went Hot Key Books with fellow publishers, Templar Books and Piccadilly Press did a joint book brunch. And after a week away at Disneyland and me deciding (in my wise wisdom) to walk there from my train station and getting lost (thanks iPhone Maps!), I feared I would be in the corner of the office, either panting furiously or about to fall asleep. But I stayed away and drooled over the books that all three publishers showcased! You guys will find something you enjoy reading. That is my honest opinion.

So, to all the other book bloggers and vloggers I chatted to (or briefly said hi to), WAS GREAT CHATTING TO YOU GUYS! It was very much a quick catch up! To all the publishers, THANK YOU for setting this up and chatting to all of us with our question/excitement! And with all the authors, THANK YOU for chatting to us about your books, writing tips, writing twisted deaths and writing kissing in different and exciting ways!

So, let me quickly go through some books I am HUGELY excited to read!

TRIBUTE by Ellen Renner (March 2014 - Hot Key Books)
This was one of those books that I (and several bloggers around me) instantly went "I HAVE to read this!". This world tackles dark issues - death, power, corruption, society - but it's been a while since I read a "magical" world that tackles these themes and tackle them well. In this, the first of two books (a duology, right?), we're in a dark world where magic is power, technology is banned and you can be killed if you know how to read. After a shocking death of a friend, Zara vows revenge and begins to spy for the rebel Knowledge Seekers. But when Zara meets the hostage Aiden, Zara is determined to save him... but can she save her?

BOMBMAKER by Claire McFall (February 2014 - Templar)
I still haven't read Ferryman and I have EVERY intention to read it but Bombmaker will be read first as this sounds awesome. This tackles issues such as terrorism and national identity. In the near future, the recession has hit the United Kingdom hard. So much so that the English government close their borders to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Any person from these countries found in England will be branded, and if they are found in England a second time, they will be shot on sight. Lizzie is Scottish, branded and was almost shot till gang boss Alexander "saves" her and makes her his possession. As a twisted freedom fighter, trying to reunite Great Britian, he forces Lizzie to become his bombmaker. Can Lizzie escape and, if she does, at what price?

ALL THE TRUTH'S THAT'S IN ME by Julie Berry (Out Now - Templar)
This is causing HUGE WAVES in the BookTube Community in the US! HUGE! Plus, this book is written in the rare second-person (aka "You walk through the field", etc). The book follows Judith, who after being missing for two years, returns home. Only she's not the same girl she was before she disappeared. Her tongue has been cut out and her best friend is dead. With no way to tell what happen to her, she silently pours her heart out to a boy who owns her heart...

FIREWALLERS by Simon Packham (Out Now - Piccadilly Press)
This was released earlier in the year (but it got a little lost under the news that Piccadilly Press was bought by Bonnier Publisher [the same people who own Hot Key Books, Templar Publishing & Red Lemon Books]) hence it coming into my radar now. It sounds very thriller and I love reading thrillers! Jess returns home from a bad day of school, to find her dad suspended from work, the media's outside her house and her dad is in hiding. Her mum drags Jess and her sister into hiding where modern technology is forbidden! But what did Jess's dad do? And why is the whole family on the run?

HOLD YOUR BREATH by Caroline Green (Out Now - Piccadilly Press)
Dark and twisted. Basically how I like my reads, and this fits perfectly! Tara has a gift to find lost things. But the last time she used this gift to help the Police, it ends badly and this leads to Tara to doubt her gift. But events take a dark turn when she picks up an earring and see's its owner, trapped in a basement. Can Tara trust her gift and save the girl? (You can see why I love the sounds of this!)

IRRESISTIBLE by Liz Banks (Out Now - Piccadilly Press)
I know most of you guys will reacting either "This has been out for AGES! Take about Unstoppable!" or "This is romance! You HATE romance!" and, I know, this isn't up my street normally, but this sounds really interesting and I want to read something fast. Mia's summer job is hard-work, but fun, especially when a romance develops between her and the hunky Dan. But Mia can't help but be drawn to Jamie - sexy, rich and who happens to love messing people's lives. (But out of the three of Liz Banks, the one I am the most intrigued to read is her second, Undeniable...)

THE MADNESS by Alison Rattle (March 2014 - Hot Key Books)
Another Victorian thriller from the pen of Alison Rattle and we enter the world of being a "dipper". Marnie is a dipper in training. Her life is dull until she meets the charming, handsome and a son to a Lord, Noah. But Marnie feels for him begins to consume her and turns into an dangerous obsession that can only end in tragedy. This was described to us as "Teen Victorian Fatal Attraction."

And am going to stop here but I could go on for ages over this. And this post took under two hours to write so... what do you think? Are they any books that wet your appetite?

GoodRead - Obsidian

I had this lurking on my kindle for a while. Everyone who has read this in the book blogging/vlogging community who have read this has RAVED over this series and, of course, after the last few reads (thanks Lake Thirteen for making me go near a "reading slump"), and because I was going out of the country, I decided to take my kindle and, after looking over several books, I decided on Obsidian.

Katy runs a book blog (geez, I wonder why all us book bloggers love this series...) and when her mom moves her to West Virginia, Katy just resigns herself to her new boring fate until she meets her hot next door neighbour. That is, until he opens his mouth. Daemon Black is arrogant, cocky, self-absorbed. It's hate at first sight. So when Katy gets attacked into a car park and Daemon saves her, Katy realises that there's something weird about Daemon and his twin sister, Dee. Something otherworldly. And Katy wants to find out. That is if she doesn't stab Daemon first...

Ok, am going to say something that will make half of you guys run away from the hills from this book and this series and the other half of you go "Ok, this sounds like my cup of tea". But, here it is: This feels very Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

NO! WAIT! COME BACK!!!

I think, with any paranormal YA novels, you'll find similar between the book and Twilight. This is the same with all those magic books and compare it to Harry Potter or any dystopian novel can be compare to The Hunger Games. It's because they fit into the genre. If they come under the same umbrella and you are determined to find links, you will. For example, once I started comparing Twilight to Obsidian, I kept going "Oh, Katy is Bella, Daemon is Edward, Dee is Alice, Ash is Rosalie, etc".

And this can be annoying to a reader. So, maybe we should stop doing this.

Anyway, the story. It was fun read and I enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed that this wasn't a typical YA read. Katy and Daemon are strongly attracted to each other and yet they hate each other. It's not instant-love. It's Lust At First Sight! Do you know how refreshing this is? And how it ended was, again, refreshing as it wasn't what the reader would expect and will make reading the next book in the series, Onyx, very interesting as this is new territory.

And the snarky one liners! THANK YOU! I love Katy's and Daemon's relationship and you saw it through their snarky back-and-forth and this was refreshing and great! It felt like two teenagers bickering that we was great! Plus, there are things that Jennifer chats about in Obsidian that happens in other books and puts them right. For example, Katy wakes up to find her best friend, Dee, watching her sleep. Katy's instant reaction: "That's creepy! STOP IT!"

This has potential. I can see this series becoming a very addictive series, but this is the first book in the series so this was laying down the foundations. The real proof will be in reading the second book in the series or the eNovella prequel, Shadows. I was told to read Shadows after Obsidian by fellow book bloggers so am going to attack that in a week or two and my love for the Lux might be kicked up a gear but, yes, this series could be one interesting read (and with the film rights of this book being bought), so if this interests you, go for it!

Mini RSM - I'm Back!

I'm back from my little wee break! Did you miss me? I hope so! I had a lovely week and a bit break from the blog. I went to Disneyland Paris with my other half (I hugged Pluto and got a photo with the Evil Queen, who on several occasions, I almost called Regina TO HER FACE! Me think this would have been her reaction if I said that...)

And before that, very early one Monday morning, I dragged him to King's Cross and got a photo taken at Platform 9 3/4. So, this holiday has been my

 holiday. So, hopefully, am back, refresh and ready to scare and take on the blogsphere. But I fear my attempt at this will be a bit like this:

So come! Join the madness! I promise I will try and be fun and read fun books! HONEST!!!