February 2012 Recap

So here is another month that has just flown by. I don't know about you, but there is a nasty bug going around and my whole house has had it... some of us twice! Unfortunately it has slowed down my blogging the past few days, but I'm finally starting to get rid of it I think, thank goodness!

Books read this month:

The Iron Witch - Karen Mahoney

Across the Universe - Beth Revis
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E. Smith
Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick
Cryer's Cross - Lisa McMann
Incarnate - Jodi Meadows
Everneath - Brodi Ashton
Croak - Gina Damico
A Million Suns - Beth Revis
Two Way Street - Lauren Barnholdt
Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
Born Wicked - Jessica Spotswood
Firelight - Kristen Callihan
If I Stay - Gayle Forman
The Nightmare Garden - Caitlin Kittredge

I didn't do too badly with getting my books in for the month and I have completed 25 for the year so far for my 100+ goal. I am hoping to squeeze in 20 this month, if I can find the time.

Books I'm dying to read in March:

Illuminate - Aimee Agresti
Dark Eyes - William Richter
A Temptation of Angels - Michelle Zink

The Nightmare Garden - Caitlin Kittredge

Title: The Nightmare Garden
Author: Caitlin Kittredge
Pages: 417
Genre: Young Adult|Steampunk|Fantasy (eARC provided by NetGalley/Delacorte)
Publication Date: 2/14/2012
Rating: ****

Everything Aoife thought she knew about the world was a lie. There is no Necrovirus. And Aoife isn't going to succumb to madness because of a latent strain—she will lose her faculties because she is allergic to iron. Aoife isn't human. She is a changeling—half human and half from the land of Thorn. And time is running out for her.

When Aoife destroyed the Lovecraft engine she released the monsters from the Thorn Lands into the Iron Lands and now she must find a way to seal the gates and reverse the destruction she's ravaged on the world that's about to poison her.

*May Contain Spoilers from The Iron Thorn*

The Nightmare Garden picks up where The Iron Thorn left off, after Aoife destroyed the engine of Lovecraft. Aoife now knows that she is half fae and that the madness that overtook her mother was not the necrovirus, but iron poisoning. By destroying the engine, she has broken the gates of the Thorn lands and now is set out to fix them -- to keep the creatures of Thorn away.

I really love the world created by Ms. Kittredge. I feel like it is unique and original and so vividly described. The supernatural elements mixed in with the steampunk setting is fantastic.

I really enjoyed reading this one and I feel like it did not lack the adventure the first one had. The only real issue I had was with Aoife. While I still feel that she was a great heroine, her attitude nipped at me a bit. She started out so strong and courageous in The Iron Thorn whereas her I feel like she reverted in maturity a bit. While acting brave and mature in the last book, here she acted more of the sixteen year old girl that she was - sassy, rebellious and hard headed. With that said, I think some of it could very well be due to some of the events that occurred throughout the book. In the end, she did redeem herself, so it was incredibly disappointing and I hope her attitude in the end continues in book three, which I am impatiently waiting for.

This one has the same dark, foreboding feel that the first had and I was excited to continue unraveling mysteries and learning more of the Thorn lands, Lovecraft and Aoife. If you enjoyed the first installment, I really think you will love this one too and you will be eagerly awaiting the third.

In My Mailbox - 2/25

In My MailBox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren to show off what books you've gotten over the past week.

I managed to get quite a bit this week. I really need to catch up on my NetGalley books as well!


Won through a giveaway at Tales of Whimsy:

Thanks again for the giveaway!!

From the library:

NetGalley:

Yeah, I think it is time to get crackin' on all of those NetGalley books. I have more from previous weeks collecting virtual dust that I need to read. I should probably go on some kind of book buying/borrowing/requesting ban or something. Perhaps even a 12-step book program of some sort... but it is so incredibly addicting when I see all these books screaming read me!

If I Stay - Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Pages: 199
Genre: Young Adult|Contemporary
Publication Date: 4/9/2009
Rating: *****

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make -and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

I have never read something so emotional in so few pages. While a quick read, it was a difficult one because it is so heart wrenching. There were several times throughout reading this that I found myself with tears in my eyes and the feeling of my heart breaking. This is such a poignant read that it will grip you by the heart and drag you in, leaving you with no other choice but to devour it.

I thought I knew what to expect going in and I have heard a lot of readers gushing about it but I really had no idea that it would be this good. Could you imagine being in such a tragic situation while you are only an outsider, a witness to all that is going on around you while you can do nothing but think and reflect? There were some incredibly painful moments to read but I couldn't tear myself away from it.

If I Stay has such an intense emotional impact that it will leave you breathless and linger in your mind well after you have finished it. It contains so many emotions - helplessness, despair, unimaginable pain, yet it is surrounded by happiness and so much love you can feel every bit of it. The characters are realistic and you will find yourself hurting for them, laughing with them, and above all, wanting to reach out to them in their darkest moments.

This is one that I feel is unforgettable. I am eager to get my hands on the sequel, Where She Went. I highly recommend this one and I urge you to get a copy ASAP, buy, borrow, what have you, it's a must read!

Waiting on Wednesday - 2/22

Waiting On Wednesdays shows books that I am stoked about and can't wait to read!

Here are some that I am drooling over this week...

Kill Me Softly
Sarah Cross
4/10/2012

True love’s kiss just may prove deadly....

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy-tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy-tale curses of their own ... brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

For Darkness Shows the Stars
Diana Peterfreund
6/12/2012

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

Gravity
Melissa West
October 2012

In the future, only one rule will matter: Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed--arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know--especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.