Author: forthesakeofreadingya

Book Review: Uprooted

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uprooted cover
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Pros – The “romance” is light and doesn’t play out like you would imagine, old world “fairy tale” feel to the narrative, Agnieszka is easy to relate to, unexpected humor

Cons – takes a long while to get to the “root” of the plot, the Dragon is borderline abusive towards Agnieszka for the better part of the book, gets somewhat confusing in the middle third

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YA Review: Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine (*****)

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Review Time

ink and bone
The Great Library #1 • 352 Pages • YA (Mature)
TasCH’s Rating: 5 stars
Published: July 7th, 2015

In an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn.…

“And so the very institution we thought would bring the most light to the world has instead drowned it in shadows, and claimed that shadow as full sun.
And we, poor blind creatures, have believed the lie.”

Thank you Rachel Caine, for giving us another story to look forward too. After you ended/took away Morganville Vampires I was a tad upset with you (how could you take away Claire? MYRNIN? THE TOWN OF CRAZIES?) but now we are all good. No more grudges, since you went ahead and created another addictive tale that is even more intricate and amazing than Morganville was at its very beginning. Continue reading “YA Review: Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine (*****)” →

Post Book Conference – Choosing your first read

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sheska from fullmetal alchemist
How do I choose?

There’s an important decision that you’ve either made or will make soon.  You probably don’t realize it, probably haven’t even given it much thought, but its a decision that has the potential to have long reaching consequences. I’m talking about the first book you read (and finish!) after a book conference*.

All of us walk away with plenty of new reads to lavish attention upon.  Whether its a new book in a favorite series or the hotly anticipate debut, they’re all so PRETTY and make you want to read them now now now.  But what do you choose? How can you say yes to one without making the others feel less important?  Is it better to stay with a known favorite author or strike out into new territory?  Read something coming out now or something due out in 9 months?

Hey I get you, don’t worry I feel that way too.  Its a thrilling and terrifying moment of truth that few consciously understand or can even explain adequately.  The rush and anticipation, the thrill of cracking open that new ARC and knowing you’re one of only a few hundred (at most) who have it in their hands.  Its the best feeling for a book nerd. That’s why its interesting to chart a person’s reading habits.  I’ve done it to myself the last several book conferences and well the data is a bit eye opening when I consider what I THINK I do and what I actually do.

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Book Review: Lock and Mori

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Lock & Mori coverIn modern-day London, two brilliant high school students, one Sherlock Holmes and a Miss James “Mori” Moriarty, meet. A murder will bring them together. The truth very well might drive them apart.Before they were mortal enemies, they were much more.

FACT: Someone has been murdered in London’s Regent’s Park. The police have no leads.

FACT: Miss James “Mori”Moriarty and Sherlock “Lock” Holmes should be hitting the books on a school night. Instead, they are out crashing a crime scene.

FACT: Lock has challenged Mori to solve the case before he does. Challenge accepted.

FACT: Despite agreeing to Lock’s one rule–they must share every clue with each other–Mori is keeping secrets.

OBSERVATION: Sometimes you can’t trust the people closest to you with matters of the heart. And after this case, Mori may never trust Lock again.


Pros – Surprisingly engaging take on the characters of Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty, offers a tangled mystery, banter between Lock and Mori is delightful

Cons – The mystery becomes predictable as soon as a certain clue or two is revealed, character development is uneven, first person perspective means we get plenty from Mori’s side of things, but very little from Lock’s

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So I Started Reading Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine…

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So I started reading 2..

ink and boneIn an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.…

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.

Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.

When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn…

……

Right now, I am all pros. Continue reading “So I Started Reading Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine…” →

BEA 2015 RECAP (Part 3): THE HARDCORE READER/BLOGGER DAY

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Friday was the serious day at BEA. In a normal year this would be the day you get to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

NO SUCH THING THIS YEAR.

We got to the Javits on the crack of dawn; no kidding, we woke up at like 4 am and were there by like 5 am. Why? Because there was a rumor that Soundless by Richelle Mead was going to be dropped at the Penguin booth, and we were not going to miss that by any chance in hell. Richelle Mead is one of my absolute favorite authors, YA or otherwise, so this one was like top priority.

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So we were the first people in line that day. And thank goodness for that since the line behind us morphed from a single file line into complete and utter chaos (it was more like a wave/congregation or people). I would have not like to be a part of that by any means. And of course everybody was there for Soundless, because the rumors were very true.

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Me, BEA and the Undying Will

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PrintHere’s how this story goes – once upon a time there was a girl. She was a pretty ordinary girl, her only real extraordinary feature being her vast book collection.  One year, because of an author the girl admired very very keenly, the girl found out about an event called Book Expo America, and decided to attend.  The girl was gobsmacked; who knew such a wonderful place existed? Who knew they would just give you books to read and review?

That year the girl walked away with one certainty–she would return.

And return she did…for another 8 years.

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BEA 2015 RECAP (Part 2): And So it Continues…

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I am absolutely, and terribly, crappy at taking pictures. I always forget, so excuse this post for the lack of fun images of all the authors I met. Usually I try to be as fast as I can when getting my book signed because there are always over 50 people at each of my lines and I know they have other things to get to (unless the author has a short line and then I’ll be talkative). Sans pictures I shall link back to the authors titles’ Goodreads pages.

Thursday was the first full day at BEA, so I woke up at the crack of dawn (I am always the first to wake up and then wake up everybody around me–I had 5 roommates in my room so we all had to plan accordingly when it came to showers, etc.) even though I didn’t actually go with the crowd and do the line to get on the floor. Continue reading “BEA 2015 RECAP (Part 2): And So it Continues…” →

BEA 2015 RECAP (Part 1): The Motherload of Book Conventions

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Book Expo America (or BEA for short) is one of the biggest book conventions out there. Everybody in the industry can attend, sellers, publishers, editors, authors, and even bloggers. Which is how I managed to sneak my way into the event for the fifth time in a row. This is actually quite possibly my last time attending BEA for a while as BEA is moving its convention all the way over to Chicago next year which makes it a bit more difficult for your truly to attend. So this is essentially the beginning of the end, and what an ending it was. Continue reading “BEA 2015 RECAP (Part 1): The Motherload of Book Conventions” →