Giveaway: Best Series Blog Hop Hosted by Cuddlebuggery

Yay, giveaway!

As you can see, we are participating in Cuddlebuggery's Best Series Blog Hop! I know, very exciting. We each decided to choose one series we really love and leave it up to the winner which series they'd like to try out. These are our picks (click the cover to go to the Goodreads page):

Kiersten's Pick 

The Sweetest Dark - Shana Abé

I won a copy of The Sweetest Dark through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway and it was the most wonderful thing that ever happened EVER. I fell in love with this book and its characters, then again when the second book in the series came out. This series is a great mix of romance, fantasy, action, and history all in one. If you want more about why I love it so much, check out the review I posted along with Marlon and Noor around when this blog was starting up (here). We all loved it and I think you will too!

Noor's Pick 

Partials - Dan Wells

I came across Partials by accident, while playing around on my Nook, and I think it was one of the best accidents to ever happen to me: the paragon of serendipity. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and a wonderful beginning to a very unique series. Dan Wells does something so new and different with Partials, that it's unexpectedly refreshing, from the exciting plot to the fantastic characters. If you want a more detailed reason as to why I love the Partials Sequence, I reviewed the first book a few months back (here), so be sure to check that out!

Amrutha's Pick

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare

Last year, my lovely book blog friends pushed me to read The Mortal Instruments. I had seen the books before and read some spoilers that I wrote off as awkward. However, as soon as I opened up the first book and got to know Jace and Clary and Simon and Alec and Isabelle and my favorite, Magnus, I fell in love with the characters and the plot. Cassandra Clare has a way of making me feel so much for the characters while providing an interesting fantasy plot with fabulous twists of romance.


Marlon's Pick

Legend - Marie Lu

Legend is . . .  wait for it (here it comes), Legend (wait for it again) dary. Marie Lu spins a beautiful, rugged dystopian world and who doesn't love a good dystopian novel? A good dystopian novel that doesn't read like some knock-off of the hunger games like so many do. A good dystopian novel that is highly realistic and jeeze, just all of the feels will be had!




Prizes and Rules
One lucky winner will receive a copy, either print or ebook, of their choice from the books listed above. This giveaway is international, so long as Book Depository ships to you or you can receive a gifted ebook. The rules are simple: use the Rafflecoptor honestly in completing the tasks. The giveaway will run through April 6th and the winner will be notified by April 8th. The winner has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. We are not responsible for any packages lost in the mail. May the odds be ever in your favor!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the other stops on the hop for more chances to win!

Review: Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

Orange is the New Black
Piper Kerman
Series: N/A
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Captivating
On Goodreads

This past summer, I binge watched the entire first season of the Netflix original show Orange is the New Black and completely fell in love with every aspect of the show. I loved the dynamic of the characters, the witty dialogue, the prison drama, all of it. I quickly learned that the show was based off a memoir and mentally added it to my reading list. I didn't end up reading it until now, just a few short months away from the next season of the show, and I really wish I'd picked it up sooner, as it was a very enjoyable read. It was really interesting seeing how the book compared to the show. I feel like I would have liked the book better if I had read it before watching the show, but I'm glad I read it when I did. Obviously, a TV show takes many liberties and hypes up drama for entertainment factor, and I was expecting the memoir to be a lot more mellow, which it was. I really liked meeting the characters or reading the stories and connecting them to incidents and people in the show, and I can't wait until next season, when I can watch and pick up on which parts of the book they're referencing.

Okay. Enough about the show vs. book comparison. Let's get down to why you should totally read this book. The first and foremost reason is the characters. They are all so wonderful and dynamic and it makes it even better that these are real people. Piper stays among the company of a very wide variety of people and she tells us about all of them. There's Pop, who works the kitchens, and there's her bunkmate Natalie, and tons of other characters. I really wish she had told us more about them, which is partially where she loses stars. Some of the characters were barely described, and when she would bring them up later I would get confused as to who she was referring to. This didn't take too much away from the other people she wrote about. From the shady correctional officers to the fiesty women of Danbury correctional facility, everyone's stories were so interesting and fascinating I just wanted to keep reading about them. In one scene, Piper wakes up and sees a woman peeing on the floor of another woman's "room." She also talks about how she got an on-site electrical job and all the people she worked with and got to meet, how she had to learn to hold her own among the seasoned and experienced prisoners, and just so many interesting stories that talk about life in prison.

Piper's correctional facility was a low security one, and even though prison is prison, this isn't a tough-as-nails, horrifying account of being tortured and treated like less-than-human in some dump. Piper received pleasures like being allowed to have books and visitors, and was allowed to do things like work. Nevertheless, the personal account of prison life is still full of surprising details and strange experiences that make this book totally worth reading.

Sometimes, her writing style got a little dry, but the story itself made up for that. I didn't like hearing about her own experiences as much -- unless they were from her rebel days -- because her upper-class WASP lifestyle seemed a lot less interesting than the stories about the people she spent a year with in prison. She had a huge support system including her family and her fiancee, Larry. Even though I was happy that she didn't have to deal with being ostracized and judged outside of her prison life, it was all very clean and happy, and not as fun to read about as the other women.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend it to everyone, especially if you watch or are planning to watch the show, which is phenomenal in its own right.

- Noor

Have you read any good memoirs lately?
Let us know in the comments!

Blog Tour Review: Before They Find Us - Michelle A. Hansen

Before They Find Us
Michelle A. Hansen
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Amazing
On Goodreads

About the book:

I’m going to make you wish you were dead.

Just a text. Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Hales tries not to worry. Probably a wrong number. Not really meant for her, and definitely not related to the crime she witnessed six years ago. Right?

Then two states away, a bomb goes off in her best friend’s locker. Soon Ryan is labeled a terrorist and runs to the safest place he knows—Rebecca’s house in small-town Wyoming. It doesn’t take long for the FBI to show up asking questions. Rebecca lies, of course, and says she hasn’t seen him.

Now she’s neck-deep in it with him, whatever “it” is. The only way out is to return to Vegas, where Ryan is a wanted man. The city of lies and illusion tests Rebecca’s wits as she struggles to find the person who framed Ryan and why.

Is Rebecca’s text linked to the bombing? And what does it have to do with a six year old murder? Rebecca needs to find out before she loses Ryan—and her own life.

Review:

To be completely honest, when I got the initial tour email regarding Before They Find Us, I didn't remember signing up for it. Me chose a thriller? Highly unlikely. However, I'm very happy that I did sign up for this tour and that I read this book because it was absolutely incredible and so much better than I thought it would be.

One of the greatest things about Before They Find Us is how well-written the characters are. All of the characters were believable and came to life on the page. When things were getting crazy, they all responded in a way that seemed real and logical for who they were. On top of that, they were all interesting people and I felt invested in the outcome of their lives. I wanted Rebecca and Ryan to clear their names. I wanted everything to work out for them.

Speaking of Rebecca and Ryan, the way they interacted was just magical. The relationship felt so real and natural. These two characters really were people who grew up as best friends and stayed friends despite Ryan moving away. Michelle A. Hansen did a fantastic job building this relationship throughout the book.

Then, of course, there's the plot. Although I've never thought of "thriller" as a genre I liked, Michelle A. Hansen has made me rethink that with Before They Find Us. This book kept me invested and interested through every page. A lot of the time in reviews I'll say that I couldn't put a book down, but in this case it's the truth. I was up very late into the morning reading this and only went to sleep because I felt some obligation to do so. I wasn't even tired - the excitement of Before They Find Us was keeping me awake.

Normally I write a lot about the books I review, but in this case, I think it's best with less. I'm sure I can come up with many more ways to tell you that this book is incredible, but the only way you'll know for sure is if you pick up a copy and read it!

- Kiersten

Purchase links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author:

Michelle A. Hansen was raised in southeastern Washington. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in English teaching from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and taught high school English for six years.

Michelle loves Pepsi and Doritos more than chocolate. She loves summertime and hates to be cold. She has had three near-death experiences. She’s addicted to office supplies and has an irrationally large stash of pens and notebooks.

Author links:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway:

Open INTL: 
-- $25 Amazon gift card
-- Signed paperback copy of Before They Find Us
-- Before They Find Us charm necklace, bookmarks and signed postcard
-- Ebook copies of Before They Find Us & Painted Blind

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Tour hosted by:

Review: The Magician King - Lev Grossman

The Magician King
Lev Grossman
Series: The Magicians, #2
Genre: Fantasy, Magic
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars (...Ish...)
Word Rating: B, to use the proper scale.
On Goodreads

Have you ever made a bad decision. And then repeated it? That's what this book is.

Okay, I'll admit, it was a lot better than the last one in that I actually enjoyed it . . . at times. I went and finished The Magicians because I had pride, and then told myself that the book was okay enough to warrant seconds. Eh.

Grossman maintains his incredible ability to play with literary tropes and archetypes, to the point where social commentary would be much appreciated, at which point he continues to screw with them. There is that lovable lack of sentimentality, but it quickly tires one out and the dismal, untrustworthy world just starts to . . . suck, as in, suck the life out of you. While found The Magician King a tad lighter and more sensible, maybe that loatheful notion could have been thrown in the closet.

My main love is Julia's story. One thing Grossman has absolutely down in this book is the narration. Julia's past and Quentin's present collide so elegantly I almost wish something of import actually happened because of it. But seriously. If there was ever a need for the utterance "started from the bottom now we here," it would be for Julia. Her story is just painful to get through. She has to push her way into power because she isn't as privileged as Quentin. The world does not smile on her.

Unfortunately, Julia . . . she's a self absorbed [Insert favorite curse word or complaint about censorship here] and though she's gold in comparison to the unbearable hellish cynicism and asshattery that is Quentin "It's Too Cold" Coldwater, she needs to get over herself. However, I can't help but sympathize with her now that I know where she's come from.

Actually scratch everything, I love Poppy. I love love love Poppy. Remember when Stephanie Meyer wrote Jacob's part in (yuck) Breaking Dawn and you were confused because you assumed she simply had someone else write it? Because the character finally had depth even though words like loam were still used? That's what Poppy is. Poppy is charming and inventive and so incredible. But like Jacob, who Meyer turned into a pedophile, Poppy's fate was doomed simply because she exists in a Lev Grossman novel and her name isn't Quentin "Seriously I Need a Towel or Something" Coldwater.

Thank the old gods and Fillory that there is still beautiful sarcasm in the book. And thank goodness for the rich and gorgeous depth that the fantasy part of this anti-genre book details. The landscapes are gorgeous and realistic and though it takes a while, the 'telling' rather than 'showing' stops annoying you as much. Even I have no idea what the hell Fillory is for or what, and I couldn't care less that Quentin is pissy about being the King of it and annoyed with the sea voyage, I would love to be encompassed by these worlds. If you want a list of my grievances read just about any other review, or my review of Magicians. I don't want to discuss in depth what I hate about this book because the faults mainly carry on from the first. I will say this though: I still don't know what the heck Grossman is trying to say. Quentin is still a wonderful conduit, a medium to express the fallacies of fantasy and fiction without ad nauseam delineations on the author's own cynic hatred of everything that ever existed ever.

And that's the problem. So much is wasted! This novel is so good and so bad and there is no middle ground! It's ironic and beautiful about the literature it expresses and Grossman portrays this notion with deadly precision, but it's drowned out and conflated with whatever aim he has.

"He who completes a quest does not merely find something. He becomes something."

I'm curious to see what will become of this book series.

(If I really had to rate it, I'd give it a "It's Enjoyable but you Might Get Stabby".)

- Marlon

A bit random but, multiple narrators? Yay or Nay? Or Hay?

Let us know in the comments!

Cover Cosmetics: Divergent factions

Hello, everyone! As I'm writing this, I just got back from seeing the Divergent movie! As you can imagine, I went all out for this - I did themed makeup, wore a Divergent tank top, and even put on a temporary tattoo of Tris' birds for the showing. I actually really enjoyed the movie! Sure, there were some changes here and there that I still need to think a little more about before I come to a full conclusion about how I feel about the movie, but overall I think it was fairly true to the story and very true to the feeling of the world. To be honest, my biggest disappointment came from the lack of Dauntless chocolate cake! I mean, seriously - important stuff. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and I think it has a lot of potential to make Insurgent an even better film adaptation.

Now onto the makeup looks! I've been posting a different faction look on Twitter every day but now I will compile them and write a bit about my thought process behind each of the looks.

Abnegation is a faction dedicated to selflessness. Part of this includes rejecting vanity and not wearing makeup. However, choosing to do no makeup for my Abnegation look would be counterproductive and silly. I still wanted to keep the look fairly neutral, so I stuck with tan and then I used grey, the color of Abnegation, in the outer half of the lid. I'm also not a person to go without eyeliner but I decided to smudge black eyeshadow instead to keep the look soft. I used all shadows from the Divergent collection for this look: Humble Sheen, Radiant Initiation, Abnegation Stone, Dauntless Ink, Serene Vanilla, and Altruistic Almond.

For my Amity look, I thought about incorporating their red and yellow colors but, obviously, decided not to. Instead, I drew more inspiration from their symbol of the tree and the way the symbol is represented on the cover of Insurgent. To do this, I used green, brown, and tan to blend the colors into harmony - a thing that Amity loves. I also added the green eyeliner just to add a little more pop to the look. From the Divergent collection I used: Bold Espresso, Intrepid Moss, Golden Honesty, Altruistic Almond, Burnt Mahogany, Radiant Initiation, Dauntless Ink, and Serene Vanilla. In addition, I also used Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (white cream base) to make the highlight more prominent and Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil in Mildew for the eyeliner.

With Candor everything is black and white - right or wrong. I think the sharp black and white is important for Candor so I wanted to base my look around the stark contrast between the colors. From the Divergent collection I used Dauntless Ink. Since there's no full on white color in the Divergent collection (Serene Vanilla comes close), I used a white cream base and Glamour Doll Eyes Electric Chair.

When I was thinking about Erudite, I felt like an Erudite woman might not want to take the time to do a lot of makeup - she'd rather spend her time researching or developing something new to help their society. Keeping this in mind, I still wanted to incorporate some Erudite blue into the look. From the Divergent collection I used: Humble Sheen, Erudite Sapphire, Dauntless Ink, Serene Vanilla, and some Gleaming Pearl from the cheek palette. In addition to that, I also used a white cream base for the highlight and Urban Decay Haight.

Last, but certainly not least, is Dauntless. For Dauntless I wanted to stick with something daring. Black was an obvious choice since black is the Dauntless color; however, I felt that all black would be boring and I wanted to make it a little more fun. I added the grey on the lid to add more light rather than an all consuming black and I added the red along the edge as a pop of color to symbolize the fiery coals of Dauntless. From the Divergent Collection I used: Dauntless Ink, Abnegation Stone, and Serene Vanilla. I also used a white cream base and Glamour Doll Eyes Electric Chair for the highlight.

Which faction look is your favorite?

Let us know in the comments!