Stacking the Shelves and The Sunday Post

Stacking the Shelves and The Sunday Post are weekly memes hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

I have almost entirely finished my TBR pile- and you know what that means. NEW ONE!! I hit two libraries, my friends' bookshelves, received the most belated birthday present ever, and was gifted one by my grandmother. Lots of new gooodies to showcase! (:

The Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore- newest in the Lorien Legacies. Love this series, can't wait!!

Shatter Me by Tahareh Mafi- It's high time. Yes I know. 

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- see above comment^^

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan- okay, can we just say I'm catching up on a lot of must reads?

The Recruit by Robert Muchamore- first in the Cherub series. I've been wanting to read these since Rick Riordan recommended them on his blog, and they fly off the shelves at the bookstore I work in. Should be great!

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott- this has been in my mental TBR since I read Harry Potter. Still trying to figure out how Nicholas Flamel ties in.

Tuesdays with Morrie- seems to be one of those deep kinda books you read in English. Pretty sure some of my friends are studying it now.. we'll see how I like it. (This, clearly, was my Grandma's pick)

WinterTown by Stephen Emond- "One boy. One Girl. One not-so-epic love story". SOLD

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkowski- everything about this book screams READ ME. Like, check it up on Goodreads.

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff- sound a little like The Great Gilly Hopkins. And I remember really liking that as a kid.

So that's what I've accumulated over the past two weeks. School's getting really busy so I will probably continue to blog sporadically- booooo high school. Anyway, hope you all follow, comment and enjoy!

What have you received?

Love, Esty

Top Ten Tuesday!

It's been so long since I've done one of these! This is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where each week bloggers share a list of books for the prompt given. This week's topic is Top Ten Book Turn Offs- we get to rant a little!

1. "Dark and Light" - I'm looking at you, Beautiful Creatures. And Books of Pellinor. And even TMI (remember? Lilith gets to bring Sebastian back because Jace was brought back. 'One for the Light one for the Dark'). I mean, excuse me? Define 'dark'?? Wants to kill everyone and take over the world?? Please. Everyone, including the villains, think what they're doing is good . Who gets to say the main character's side is right? And why on earth does the the bad guy revel in being called the dark side??

2.  Insta- Love- this one's gonna show up on everyone's list. Wait, why do you love each other? How long have you known her? A week? 

3. Skinny and beautiful characters- I won't name specifics here, but I HATE how you can read an entire series of books and all the characters are good looking. When you reach the author's picture, you realize they are far from that themselves. UGH STOP IT

4. Being SPECIFICALLY TOLD something can't happen, and then it does- this, in my opinion, is a cheap tactic. You can't write something that the readers won't think of, so you have a character tell them the end as a possibility and explain why it can't happen with 100% certainty, then it does. Think Clockwork Princess. A certain favorite character's fate. Or a certain relationship in City of Bones and City of Ashes- makes perfect sense and has a whole explanation, but then it's wrong. THIS IS WHY HARRY POTTER IS SO GENIUS. EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU AND YOU NEVER GUESSED. 

5. Really sweet popular guy who is dating an evil cheerleader but then falls for the smart and sweet unpopular main character- if he is so sweet, why can't he see he is dating a devil? *cue exaggerated eyeroll* 

6. SPIN-OFF SERIES- In 90% of the cases,  A SPINOFF IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY AT BEST AND RUINS THE FIRST SERIES AT WORST. The ones that do need spin-offs hardly ever have. 

7. A LOVE TRIANGLE FOR THE SAKE OF HAVING A LOVE TRIANGLE- enough said

8. Absentee/ way too lenient parents- because it is TOTALLY OK for your kid to be doing all the crazy stuff he/she does. 

9. Heroines who are called badass but aren't actually- Clary, Tessa (though she's not as bad), Nora. 

10. Perfect love interests- Enough with the hot, smart, RICH, funny, sexy, strong, badass, forever-loving, etc boyfriends. They can't all be like that!!! Give them some flaws, people!

Ok, so maybe I ranted a little more than intended(: What are your turn-offs?
Love, 
Esty

Review: At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks

At First Sight
Nicholas Sparks
Adult contemporary romance

There are a few things Jeremy Marsh was sure he’d never do: he’d never leave New York City; never give his heart away after barely surviving one failed marriage; and never become a parent. Now Jeremy is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, engaged to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the start of their family. But just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, a mysterious and disturbing e-mail sets off a chain of events that will change the course of this young couple’s relationship. 

In comparison to the likes of The Notebook and Dear John, At First Sight wasn't one of Nicholas Sparks' masterpieces. I went through most of the book without being emotional and was starting to think the unbelievable- that Mr. Sparks had written a not-so-great novel. 

Needless to say, he got the last laugh. 

I was really heartbroken and heartwarmed by the time I reached the end - the usual with his books. I've read about 5 of them and they've all made me cry. I will never doubt him again. 

However, I stand by my first sentence- it wasn't one of his masterpieces. I say so because I did not love any of the characters (though I understand that there is another book that journals the beginning of Lexie and Jeremy's relationship- maybe reading that would've helped, but it stands on it's own therefore I'm judging it on it's own), nor was the plot anything amazing. Also, the love wasn't palpable to me- they SAID they loved each other but I didn't feel that much through the story. It was definitely there by the end, though. I just wish it would've been throughout the whole book too.

The end. Sigh. I cried. It was sad, but hopeful and sweet. By then I loved Jeremy and was feeling the love from the story as well. And I admit- this was the first book by this author in which the end completely threw me! I did not see that coming at all and was totally shocked (as opposed to not seeing something coming but when it does being like, 'Oh. That makes  sense' ). It gave the story a whole new purpose and I loved that aspect of it despite the tears.

  If you have yet to try out his work, I'd recommend you start with A Walk to Remember, or one of the other ones they made movies out of. They chose his bests for those.  But of course, Nicholas Sparks' writing is uncontested and in that this book was not lacking. 

Rating: 3.5 stars (I will make a half star. I will. Really)


Guess who got internet back?? MEEEE. I've missed you guys! Soon I'll be doing a post showing you all the books I've received over the last two weeks and I'm almost caught up on reviews(: Stay tuned and comment a lot!
Love,
Esty

Review: The Iron King

The Iron King 
Julie Kagawa
YA Paranormal, Fantasy 

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I was soooooo sure I was gonna love this. I mean, look at the above! This is exactly the kinda thing I would adore! Sounds like Wicked Lovely, or the Mortal Instruments. Brooding hot guy, hilarious best friend, faery world- it's exactly my cup of tea. 

Except it wasn't. I was so excited but it fell flat. The characters were just so.... one-dimensional. Like, nothing they said or did showed any personality at all. If I didn't know who was speaking, I would never have been able to tell the voices apart. The only exception to this rule was Puck. Good God, I loved that boy! He made me laugh and and cry each in turn. He was the only redeeming person. Ash, much as I wanted to be obsessed with him, didn't charm me. He was nothing special, honestly. There was only one bit where he really talked, and even then it was just like reciting his personal history. It wasn't that he was devoid of feeling- he (and everyone else but Puck) were devoid of personality. (I don't know, does that make sense??)

The one thing I liked was the world and it's rules. I've seen a lot of different interpretations of the fey- In Apprilynne Pike's Wings, the faeries of the various of the differ seasons differ in power. In Wicked Lovely there are 4 courts. The Iron King's theme was similar to that, with two different courts (kingdoms) who thrive on the imagination of humans. I thought that was pretty great. The twist is this- humans are imagining new things now. Technology and development, therefore creating new fey- iron fey. Yay originality!! That was cool. 

I've decided to give the Iron Fey series the benefit of the doubt. I'm assuming the reason the characters didn't go anywhere was because the author was busy with world building. I feel like the series has a lot of potential and that the plot will thicken and the characters will develop and I'll be happy. Hopefully. 
Rating: 2.5 stars


Still no internet, still hanging at friends' houses to blog. Oh well.
Love, Esty

Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Bossypants
Tina Fey
Nonfiction, autobiography

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

(Includes Special, Never-Before-Solicited Opinions on Breastfeeding, Princesses, Photoshop, the Electoral Process, and Italian Rum Cake!)

In general, this is not a book I would have picked up myself. Why? For the simple reason that I never watched anything with her in it. DON'T FREAK. I've heard of her. My mom likes her. But believe it or not, my generation doesn't watch SNL or 30 Rock.  Also, I don't live in the USA. 

So why did I read it anyway? A friend of mine who's a little older than me lent it to me a loooong time ago. It's been sitting in my TBR for like a year. And there's nothing I hate more than a book procrastinating on my shelf unread. So I read it. 

Eh. I've read the reviews and everyone thought it was hilarious. So did my friend. But what can I say, I just didn't get a lot of the jokes. And what I did get just wasn't that funny. However, I did find her story inspiring. In college you never would have known she'd make it big, by her description she actually sounded like a total loser. I liked her tale of the road to fame and the obstacles, motherhood, successes and failures. Also, the pictures in the book helped to illustrate her point. 

Title and cover comments: She uses the word bossy once in the beginning, therefore I thought it wasn't that great a title. Cover: ditto. What's the connection to the man's arms? Never explained. 

Rating: Ehhh.


Sorry again about my seriously spaced out posts! Still no internet at home, so blogging only when I have a computer at my dad's office... Not to worry! Should be taken care of next week. *puts hands together in prayer* have a great week!
Esty