Venom by Fiona Paul

Love, lust, murder, mayhem and high society converge in one thrilling debut

Cassandra Caravello has everything a girl could desire: elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, invitations to the best parties, and a handsome, wealthy fiancé—yet she longs for something more. Ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape.

 When Cass stumbles upon the body of a murdered woman—with a bloody X carved across her heart—she’s drawn into a dangerous world of secret societies, courtesans, and killers. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a poor artist with a mischievous grin . . . and a habit of getting into trouble. Will Cassandra find the murderer before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

Beauty, romance, and mystery weave together in a novel that’s as seductive and stunning as the city of Venice itself.

I'm not really a fan of mysteries. I've never really had the patience for them, I guess. So I shouldn't really be taken seriously about this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed the romance aspect of the novel, but I didn't really like the ending. It seemed too rushed and altogether messy. The love triangle was poorly handled.

Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Aprilynne Pike, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wings series, shines in this stand-alone novel that offers a humorous twist on ghosts and is perfect for fans of Ally Carter, Rachel Hawkins, and Kiersten White.

Kimberlee Schaffer may be drop-dead gorgeous . . . but she also dropped dead last year. Now she needs Jeff's help with her unfinished business, and she's not taking no for an answer. When she was alive, Kimberlee wasn't just a mean girl; she was also a complete kleptomaniac. So if Jeff wants to avoid being haunted until graduation, he'll have to help her return all of the stolen items. But Jeff soon discovers that it's much easier to steal something than it is to bring it back.

Paying for your mistakes takes on a whole new meaning in this hauntingly clever twist on The Scarlet Pimpernel.

I'm not really a fan of ghost stories, but I enjoyed Aprilynne Pike's Wings series so I figured I would give this one a try. I wasn't disappointed.

It's rare, in my opinion, to find a good YA in a contemporary setting (such as a school) that has a twist, like a ghost. Most are dry, or don't represent the characters or twist very well. But this is a pretty good one.

The relationship between Kimberlee and Jeff is absolutely hilarious, but more importantly, it's real. Their banter is real, and so are their fights. They argue over simple and difficult things, just like normal friends. The only difference in this case is that no one else can see Kimberlee.

I recommend this to fans of Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall series. It doesn't have the magic aspect, but the characters seem similar to me.

Life Drawing for Beginners by Roisin Meaney

From the author of Semi-Sweet comes a delightful new novel about the art of friendship, love, and (still) life.

When Audrey Matthews offers an evening class in life drawing, all she's looking for is a little extra pocket money and something to fill her Tuesday nights. So she hires a model and recruits five students - each of whom have their own reason for being there.

For Zarek, a Polish immigrant, the class is a welcome distraction and a place to escape his dull cafe job and noisy roommate.

Then there's the handsome, mysterious James who has moved to the small town of Carrickbawn looking for a new start for himself and his daughter. He's vowed to keep to himself, but then his interest in Jackie, the class model and single mom, takes a more personal turn.

While Audrey has just fallen in love -- with the adorable puppy in the window of the local pet shop. Will she be put off by the store's brusque owner or does she find out that his bark is worse than his bite?

As the weeks pass, it becomes clear to the members of the drawing class that their fellow students aren't exactly who they seem...

This was a very confusing book. The constant change in characters and complex plotline was intriguing, yet disappointing at the same time. I enjoyed the story as a whole but I wouldn't read a similar book if the opportunity presented itself.

It took me over a month to read this because the complexity drove me to read other books and put this one on the back burner.

I originally got this as an ARC through one of GoodReads' giveaways.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

This is an amazing book! I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. I remember marking to-read for the book a long time a go and being pumped to read it. Then, I kind of forgot about it. Sad, I know. So when I got it from the library I thought to myself, where did this book come from?

Celaena is a strong protagonist. She knows what she wants, and she isn't afraid to take it. No matter who or what gets in her way. I like that in a protagonist, especially a female one. It's rare in the fantasy genre to see kickass females, but when I find one, they're either poorly written, or absolutely breathtakingly awesome. I'll leave you to figure out which one Celaena is.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

Wow. I read the last 200 pages in about 2 hours. (That's fast, even for me.) I wasn't all that impressed by this book. Delirium absolutely blew me away. Pandemonium was good. Not great, but good. But Requiem just didn't do it for me. I'm pretty disappointed by it, to be honest.

I was racing to the end of the book mostly because there was nothing that kept me reading all that closely. To me, Hana's parts were completely unnecessary. They didn't add anything to the story.
Maybe I am being a little harsh on the book, but it just seemed to me that Lauren Oliver just wanted to get the series over with and rushed through this book. There was no real ending, and there was no finality. It was just suddenly over.

All in all, I think I was just too impressed by Delirium that Requiem didn't stand a chance.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

WANTED:

One young woman to take care of four-year-old boy.  Must be cheerful, enthusiastic, and selfless--bordering on masochistic.  Must relish sixteen-hour shifts with a deliberately nap-deprived preschooler.  Must love getting thrown up on, literally and figuratively, by everyone in his family.  Must enjoy the delicious anticipation of ridiculously erratic pay.  Mostly, must love being treated like fungus found growing out of employer's Hermes bag.  Those who take it personally need not apply.

Who wouldn't want this job?  Struggling to graduate from NYU and afford her microscopic studio apartment, Nanny takes a position caring for the only son of the wealthy X family.  She rapidly learns the insane amount of juggling involved to ensure that a Park Avenue wife, who doesn't work, cook, clean, or raise her own child, has a smooth day.

When the X's marriage begins to disintegrate, Nanny ends up involved way beyond the bounds of human decency or good taste.  Her tenure with the X family becomes a nearly impossible mission to maintain the mental health of their four-year-old, her own integrity, and, most important, her sense of humor.  Over nine tense months, Mrs. X and Nanny perform the age-old dance of decorum and power as they test the limits of modern-day servitude.

This was a hilarious book. I was cracking up the entire time. My friends would look at me strangely, and I would try to explain it, but they wouldn't understand. Now I'm forcing them to read the book. Yay for (positive) peer pressure!

Really, the only reason it took me as long as it did to read the book was because I had so much homework.  But then again, I used this as an excuse to not to do my homework. :)

 

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

That was. Just wow. I love Maria V. Snyder. I've read all her books except for Inside Out and Outside In. This is probably in the top three of my favorite books by her (Poison Study and Storm Glass being the other two)

I liked that Snyder split the points of view between Kerrick and Avry. It gave a different perspective on their relationship and allowed for more plot to be covered.

Hunted, Killed—Survived?

As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of her friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomanical King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confident, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon’s opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon’s most horrible creations yet; an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.

War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible ... again.

If you're a huge High Fantasy fan like me, this is a great add to your bookshelf. (Though I recommend reading Touch of Power first)

 

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

Honestly, this book didn't really live up to my expectations. I guess they were abnormally high, though... I just didn't feel it with The Lost Prince like I did with The Iron Fey . It just didn't feel... right? I don't know.

The first thing that disappointed me was when Ethan's token was supposed to bring someone to help him, I thought it meant Puck... but, you know, I'm just fangirling... But why did it have to be Grimalkin? He's a lazy jerk with a God complex.

I didn't really enjoy the whole "younger brother of the heroine" as much as I thought I would. It just seemed like Julie Kagawa was grasping at straws and this was the first idea that made any sense at all.

But I have to admit, that is an awesome cover.

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

Ugh. I. Hate. Cliffhangers.

Usually.

:) But definitely this time.

When I started The Crown of Embers it had been seven months since I'd read The Girl of Fire and Thorns. I'd forgotten most of it, and I didn't really know what to expect. The only things I remembered about it was that Elisa was very religious and that she had fallen in love with a desert nomad. Or something like that.

So when I started reading and I noticed the love intrest between Elisa and Hector I was confused. Very confused. But as I kept reading, I caught on quickly and started to LOVE their relationship. (And by the way, I love the last few pages, they are amazing.)

Since I started this while trying to read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne for English class, I was surprised how fast I read it. Normally I focus on my school books and my free reading books take a back burner, but for once, I actually said, "Hell with it, I'm not going to read that!" Well, maybe not those exact words. But close.

:)

 

Anyway, here's the summary of the book:

In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

My first reaction to finishing Bitterblue was "It was amazing".  Then I thought "Wait, it's over?"

Bitterblue was my favorite character in Graceling, and when I heard that Kristin Cashore was writing a new book that was about Bitterblue, I squealed! Literally, not metaphorically. Sound actually came out of my mouth. I liked Fire better than the other two, but this one still made my hair stand on end at some points. Which is what we all look for in a book right?

The characters were so real. And so much like I remember them from Graceling. I was kind of disappointed at how little Fire was in the book, but that's okay. But, Saf (Sapphire) was OMG! I loved the relationship between them, the banter, the laughter, the disappointments in each other. It seemed like the real thing. I was so sad when he decided to leave for the Dells! I wanted to cry, but then I remembered the Bridge scene (I swear I read that five or six times, thinking "did that really just happen?" I was so sad when he decided to leave for the Dells! I wanted to cry, but then I remembered the Bridge scene (I swear I read that five or six times, thinking "did that really just happe0

The setting was perfectly described. The bridges, every time we encountered a bridge, I could see it in my mind, it was amazing.

The way Cashore described the many sculptures and paintings in the book made me think "How did she come up with all those statue ideas?" And then I remembered that she's an author. And authors are amazing.

Here's the summary:

The long-awaited companion to New York Times bestsellers Graceling and Fire

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart.