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Waiting
on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking
the Spine.
It's a weekly meme about upcoming books we're excited about! |
The Lost Stone
(The Kingdom of Wrenly #1)
by Jordan Quinn
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
From Goodreads:
Welcome to the Kingdom of Wrenly, a new chapter book series full of fantasy and adventure.
Meet Lucas, the eight-year-old prince, and Clara, the daughter of the queen's seamstress. Lucas is an only child who longs to make friends and go on adventures. Clara knows the kingdom well, so she and Lucas team up and explore the lands of Wrenly!
In The Lost Stone, Lucas and Clara search for Queen Tasha's missing emerald. On their exciting adventure, they travel to all the main attractions of Wrenly: Primlox (the island of fairies), Burth (the island of trolls), Crestwood (the island of dragons), Hobsgrove (the island of wizards), and the beautiful Mermaid's Cove. King Caleb has promised to reward the person who finds the precious stone, and Lucas and Clara are determined to search the entire kingdom until they find it!
Why I'm Excited
Is it bad that I'm almost twenty-two and I still get excited for kids' books? I guess it's one of the pleasures of being a bookworm - you can still get excited over kid things! This looks like it will be a beautiful addition to my library, with its illustrations. And sometimes an easy, kids' book is exactly what I feel like reading. Also, this sounds like a book I would have adored as a kid. Why can't I adore it now, too? :-)
Sekret
(Sekret #1)
by Lindsay Smith
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
From Goodreads:
An empty mind is a safe mind.
Yulia's father always taught her to hide her thoughts and control her emotions to survive the harsh realities of Soviet Russia. But when she's captured by the KGB and forced to work as a psychic spy with a mission to undermine the U.S. space program, she's thrust into a world of suspicion, deceit, and horrifying power. Yulia quickly realizes she can trust no one - not her KGB superiors or the other operatives vying for her attention - and must rely on her own wits and skills to survive in this world where no SEKRET can stay hidden for long.
Why I'm Excited
It's about Soviet Russia! I am very keen on books that take place during times in history involving strife and very real tyrannical regimes. So how can I not be excited for Sekret? It sounds really interesting!
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What are you reading right now?
For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.
There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies, and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose - and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.
The first book in The Blackcoat Rebellion, I've been hearing a lot of good things about it. I'm not very far into it yet - about 20 pages - and so far I'm liking it pretty well. Nothing special, but not horrible, either. Entertaining.
What have you read recently?
When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it's her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn't sure what to make of the school's weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn't be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints. Everything she could want.
Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who's ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv's only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gave Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv's way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride.
But Liv's bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she's the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham's campus, Gabe is now Liv's only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.
Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.
Time for another ARC! I wasn't sure if this was going to be any good, but oh my gosh, was it ever! I gave this 4/5 strawberries - almost did 5/5 because I loved it so much. Maybe not the most scary book I've ever read, it still had a lot of suspense and great characters and a great storyline. Yes, there is insta-love, but somehow it actually, amazingly worked!
What do you plan on reading next?
They hear the spirits. They must obey.In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire's worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.
Only this year, the souls will not be quieted.
Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters' journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they've ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court - one that will alter the balance of their world forever.
Another ARC! Yes, I have a huge pile of ARCS, but I am starting to make a dent in them, with this method of I must read an ARC every time I finish an actual published book. This one sounds spooky and intriguing and just awesome.
I'm so glad I checked your blog. You have posted interesting books that I might check to read as well. I might not be able to get an ARC of those but I'll watch out for them. I love paranormal/thriller books and anything creepy is what I'm interested in. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteHere's my WWW: http://spillsandspoils.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/www-wednesdays-week-2/
Thanks for visiting my blog! :) If you like paranormal/thriller novels, you should definitely check out LIV, FOREVER. It was published yesterday, in fact!
DeleteI was looking at your "About me" page and I was shocked at how much we had in common! :) I was so surprised to see Rosemary Sutcliffe on your list of favorite authors. She is not one I hear mentioned very much. I always enjoyed her King Arthur series as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a big Jane Austen and Charles Dickens fan. My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice but I have a huge soft spot for Northanger Abbey, because I am a lot like Catherine Morland.
Sadly, Rosemary Sutcliff doesn't get as much recognition as she should - especially in the US. She will always be one of the best authors I have ever read.
DeleteNORTHANGER ABBEY is one of my favorites, too - how can you not like Mr. Tilney, after all? ;) If I had to pick a Austen girl I am most like, Fanny Price from MANSFIELD PARK would probably be it. Quiet and shy, but very sensible. What is your favorite Charles Dickens novel?
Fanny Price is the Austen heroine I would most want to be like. :) Mr. Tilney... oh my! When it comes to him, forget Mr. Darcy! ;) He is just the kind of guy I would want to be friends with, romance aside. He's actually my brother's favorite male character from Austen (though he does like Mr. Knightley).
DeleteDickens... hmmm, I'd say Nicholas Nickleby or Dombey and Son. I fell in love with Nicholas Nickleby when as a kid I watched the Royal Shakespeare Comapny's performance of it (it's available on DVD). It is incredible and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. :)
I failed to get far into Pawn. It may have been my reading mood at the time, but it went in the procrastination nation pile. And I just saw Rosemary Sutcliff's name mentioned somewhere in the comment list and thought I'd mention I found one of her titles at my used bookstore the other day!
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't your reading mood. The only thing I really liked about PAWN was the premise, the rebellion, and some of the creepier aspects of the dictatorship. I didn't hate any of the characters, but I never cared about them - except Knox.
DeleteIt's been a while, but that all sounds pretty accurate. Nice premise, interesting dictatorship (and the road to dictatorship), but didn't care about any of the characters. Though I remember being semi-interested in Knox and maybe one or two of the other side characters, but I never really cared about the protagonist; and that really stupid decision she made early on irked me.
DeleteI get the feeling Knox will be ruined later if a love triangle is introduced. Kitty makes a lot of stupid decisions - or, rather, she doesn't make any decisions, which is just as annoying. I wanted Benjy to die just so Kitty wouldn't keep using him as an excuse to not join the rebels.
DeleteAgreed. Which is part of why I'm very seriously considering not coming back to it. Sounds like I'd be better off finding another book with a Knox-like character and no Kitty.
DeleteI do intend on finishing the trilogy (because it can't be worse than some that I've read. Okay, I suppose it could be, but I don't think it will be), so I'll let you know if it gets better. Doubt it will, though.
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