[ARC Book Review] Pantomime by Laura Lam

Pantomime by Laura Lam [ARC]

Publication Date: 5 February 2013
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Rating: 4/5 stars
R. H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass—remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone—are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.

Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star.

But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

My Thoughts

I really have to apologize for the lateness of my pretty long overdue review and a huge thanks to Goodreads and Strange Chemistry for an ARC copy of Pantomime which I won in a GR giveaway.

(Photo credit – Retronaut)

The circus had been unlike anything I could ever imagine and I could not walk away. I wanted to be a part of the magic, create it and wield it with such skill that it looked effortless. I wanted to fly.

This quote perfectly describes how I felt when I was reading Pantomime. To be honest, I have never read a book that took place in a circus and I’m quite appalled at myself because I really do quite like the circus. Pantomime has taken that liking and deepened it into a fascination and love, in particular for this very circus. What I really loved about this book was that the world building was done beautifully. The vivid descriptions of the circus and various acts transported me into the circus tents and I felt like I was one of the circus go-ers, looking at everything in awe and wonder. Pantomime is one of those books that you have to read and savor every detail to appreciate the atmosphere.

I also really liked the characters in this book, from Gene and Micah, our protagonists, down to the characters Micah meets in the circus. This is when I don’t really want to spoil the book by going too much into the characters because there’s a pretty huge secret revolving around our protagonists and well, I think it’s better for readers to uncover it themselves. But let’s just say, that Micah is a pretty unique character, in my eyes at least. It took me a while to really connect with this character but his journey of self-discovery got me rather emotionally invested and I grew to love him.

Unfortunately, Pantomime ends on a cliffhanger which caught me by surprise because I actually expected it to be a standalone and it did annoy me just a bit. There is also a love triangle present which didn’t irk me hugely but I think I would enjoy it more if it didn’t exist. I do think it’s essential for a certain character’s growth though, so well, I’ll let this one slide.

All in all, I would recommend Pantomime purely for it’s amazing circus elements, gorgeous prose and world building. If you love circuses, this one will not disappoint you. And if you don’t, I have a feeling this book will make you just the bit more intrigued by the circus. The sequel to Pantomime comes out in 2014 and I simply can’t wait to read it.

[ARC Book Review] Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black [ARC]

Publication Date: 14 February 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Rating: 1/5 star
Vanessa doesn’t believe that her sister is a runaway. She wouldn’t leave her family behind without saying a word. The only way Vanessa can discover the truth behind her mysterious disappearance is to follow in Margaret’s footsteps, but to do so she risks her sanity and maybe even her life . . .

Vanessa Adler is one of the talented few to get a place at the acclaimed New York Ballet Academy. Between backbreaking rehearsals for the school’s production of The Firebird she desperately tries to find out what happened to her sister before she vanished. There are rumors that the pressure of performing the lead role, the same role Vanessa is now rehearsing for, drove her mad. Other girls have gone missing too. Can the role be cursed? Vanessa’s new relationship with leading-man Zep only seems to complicate things further. What is he hiding from her and can she really trust him?

Black Swan meets Gossip Girl in this thrilling first book in a new series. Sexy, sinister and full of secrets, readers will be hooked on Dance of Shadows from the first page. Look out for the sequel in 2014.

 

 

My Thoughts

Sigh, yet another book that fails to live up to it’s gorgeous cover.

I was pretty excited for this because the premise sounded pretty promising and like what many have been saying, it could possibly be like the Black Swan of YA novels but unfortunately there were so many problems with this book that I honestly couldn’t have liked it as much as I tried.
The largest problem of them all and one can basically kill or make a book for me are the characters. I can ay that there isn’t a single character in the book that I liked or could relate to. Vanessa, as the female protagonist, was horribly one-dimensional, shallow and made pretty stupid decisions. I honestly couldn’t understand or connect to Vanessa and it just felt like she didn’t have a brain of her own. There were a few instances in the book (I’m going to just avoid spoilers) which should have raised the red flag but Vanessa chose to either ignore or she just refuses to acknowledge it’s existence. The rest of the characters were equally flat and I honestly could barely even differentiate them at times.

The second issue that irked me was the insta-love and infatuation going on between Vanessa and Zeppelin. I mean, he freaking breaks up with his girlfriend before he even had a real conversation with Vanessa. R.I.G.H.T. Plus there was the pre-requisite love triangle with Justin, whom was supposed to be mysterious and all but just seems like a stalker to me.

Finally, the writing was really mediocre. I might not be the best judge of this but I can safely say that the writing, in no way, managed to engage nor captivate me one bit. It reads a bit awkward and the pace is horribly slow. Ballet-wise, I’m not a dancer so the terms and all were pretty fine by me, I can’t say the same for a professional dancer or anyone else who has taken ballet though. I actually liked the prologue and was pretty intrigued but the book moved so slowly that I began to lose all interest. Well, that plus the less than awesome writing and flat characters. And the problem with having a prologue that clearly hints (a VERY strong hint that is) at paranormal ongoings in the school, is that you can’t possibly move the book at a snail’s pace or your reader is seriously going to get very frustrated at your protagonist for not figuring it out when it’s already blatantly in the readers’ faces. So yep, I think it’s safe to say I won’t be picking up the second book.

[Book Review] Easy by Tammara Webber

Easy by Tammara Webber

Publication Date: 24 May 2012
Publisher: Razorbill (first edition – self-published)
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.

4.5 flaming hot stars.

I’ve swooned over Graham in the Between the Lines and Where You Are and now I’m totally swooning over Landon Lucas Maxfield. I need to kowtow to Ms Webber for creating such hot, swoon-worthy and extremely mature (pretty much flawless I might add) male characters. But I also need to cry hysterically like a mad woman because her books have officially killed my expectations for real world guys in the sense that I’m pretty sure no guy I meet, will EVER live up to such standards.

Ms Webber’s books should be handed out to college guys (I guess high school would work too) just to let them know what they are up against and what we girls are expecting. Her books should be marketed to guys as ‘The Guidelines to Capturing a Girl’s Heart”. I do realize that by now, I’m starting to sound a little mentally unsound and psychotic.

At the risk of sounding totally shallow, I must add that apart from the clear reason stated above, I did also adore the friendship between Erin and Jacqueline and the way that the rape issue was handled. It didn’t take place just for the sake of drama and was portrayed in a realistic manner while illustrating the seriousness of this issue. Which in my opinion, is why this book should be marketed as New Adult and not just because of the sex scenes like the marketers have been yapping about. Although the sex scenes in this book are seriously well written and wonderfully steamy (;

Lastly, I would just like to shout out to Lucas, Graham (yes, I am aware that they are fictional) and all guys out there who might be similar to these two guys, but I have not had the fortune of meeting.

& if you are ever looking for a girlfriend

But for now

 

Also leeching on my own post to advertise a couple of giveaways that are ending soonish!
(click on the books/graphic to get to the post)

 

[Book Review] Speechless by Hannah Harrington & The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Publication Date: 28 August 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Rating: 4/5 stars

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can’t keep a secret.

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she’s ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there’s strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she’s done. If only she can forgive herself.

My (short) Review

You can be surrounded by people and still be lonely. You can be the most popular person in the school, envied by every girl and wanted by every boy, and still feel completely worthless. The world can be laid at your feet and you can still not know what you want from it.

The thing that first drew me to this book was the wonderfully simple cover that from far looks just like a blank paper. Speechless. This book is very aptly named and beautifully written. I honestly don’t quite know how to put my feelings about this book down in words as I always do the books I love.

I can cut myself some slack somes. Because I’m a work in progress. Because nobody is perfect. At least, I acknowledge the mistakes I’ve made, and am making. At least I’m trying. That means something, doesn’t it?

I think this quote perfectly sums up why I liked Chelsea so much. She starts out as a very flawed character but at the end of the book, I don’t find that she has become a saint either. Yes, I still think that she has flaws but at the very least, she did look at herself and try to change.I can definitely appreciate that.

I really loved her new group of friends as well. Asher and Andy are both pretty hilarious and Sam is just downright sweet. I also loved how the romance between Chelsea and Sam played out. The pacing for the story was pretty spot on.

How it seems so impossible that someone could look at them, see how plainly they care for each other, and find anything ugly or shameful or worthy of hatred in it, when all I see is something beautiful.

Speechless also touches on the issue of bullying and homophobia, but it was done in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to shove what’s morally right down your throat. Rather, it is done in a more pensive manner which I really liked. It makes you think love, hatred, friendship, forgiveness and so much more. This was one YA contemporary that thankfully lived up to it’s hype and made me fall in love with Harrington’s writing and characters.

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Publication Date: 27 April 2010
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Rating: 2/5 stars

Meet Pat Peoples. Pat has a theory: his life is a movie produced by God. And his God-given mission is to become physically fit and emotionally literate, whereupon God will ensure him a happy ending—the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. (It might not come as a surprise to learn that Pat has spent several years in a mental health facility.) The problem is, Pat’s now home, and everything feels off. No one will talk to him about Nikki; his beloved Philadelphia Eagles keep losing; he’s being pursued by the deeply odd Tiffany; his new therapist seems to recommend adultery as a form of therapy. Plus, he’s being haunted by Kenny G!

My (short) Review

Warning: This book (not review, BOOK) will spoil some classics if you have yet to read them.

1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
2. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
3. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Alright, consider yourselves warned, now onward to my short review.

Silver Linings is one of those books that I wouldn’t normally pick up and probably wouldn’t if not for wanting to read it before I watch the movie. From the trailer, I expected a pretty light hearted book with quirky characters but what I got was really different, although not entirely in a bad way.

There were chapters that made me smile and chapters that made me teared but at the end of the day, I don’t love this book. I saw a review on Goodreads saying that Silver Linings is like an adult Perks and I guess I do agree a little. So it’s probably the case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ for this since I didn’t exactly love Perks either.
If you actually read this post right down till the end, yay for you and me!
I hope my reviews were at the least bit helpful and comments make me very happy, so leave me one?

[Book Review] Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Series: Under the Never Sky #1
Publication Date: 3rd January 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 3/5 stars

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland – known as The Death Shop – are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild – a savage – and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile – everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

 

 

Favourite Quotes

“She looked up. “A world of nevers under a never sky.”
She fit in well then, he thought. A girl who never shut up.”

“It was the lion grin she’d only seen a few times. Sweet and engaging, with a hint of shyness. It showed a whole part of him she didn’t know.

My Thoughts

From the moment I set my eyes on this gorgeous book, I fell in love with both the title and the cover.

Rossi’s Under the Never Sky debuted in early 2012 with a bang and I have been hearing many good things about this book, so I’ve finally decided that now would be a good time to start, since the second book in the series will be released soon. This was one book that I excitedly dove into but emerged pretty disappointed. I honestly expected to love or at least like it VERY much and I did try my hardest to, but unfortunately, Under the Never Sky never did reach my expectations.

Storyline

UtNS is placed under the dystopian, sci-fi category which I guess is part of it’s marketing after the dystopian hype, but this book barely fits under the dystopian category. It’s definitely much more science fiction and even then, I don’t think hardcore sci-fi readers will fancy this too much. The main storyline is pretty normal, with your two protagonists from different worlds going on a journey with a somewhat similar goal, to save their loved ones. The problem lies with the world building, which is very basic. Nothing is very much elaborated on or even explained and I was left wondering if I missed out reading anything cos I simply didn’t understand how exactly Aria’s and Perry’s worlds worked. The pacing of the book started out slow and only picked up towards the later end of the book.

Characters

This was another huge problem for me and the main reason why I didn’t love the book. I don’t dislike any of the main characters but unfortunately, I didn’t love them either. Everyone’s gushing over Perry but for me, it’s like he’s sweet and really funny at times but him and Aria’s characters just fell a bit flat for me. It might be the alternating third party POV at work here that didn’t allow me to feel fully engaged with both characters but I was sorely disappointed with this.

But then ROAR happened, and all was good.
Roar was truly the highlight of the book for me (Perry comes at a close second), he made things more light hearted and was just being his awesome self. I really hope he appears more in Book 2 (with Liv!) and he does have a novella that I have yet to read, so yay for that!

Romance

One of the things that I did love about this book was that there was NO “insta-love” nor a love triangle.

I know right, colour me amazed.
The build up for Aria and Perry’s romance was pretty spot on and the pacing was well done so when they finally did get together, it felt right. But okay, that very one scene about violets? That was something that wasn’t for me, it just felt too cheesy and awkward. Everytime Perry mentioned about Aria’s violet scent, I felt a strong urge to snigger.

Final Verdict

Well, I wouldn’t strongly recommend this book to everyone but if you are in the market for a very light dystopian/sci-fi read that has an ample balance of romance and action, I would say you can check out Under the Never Sky. But quite honestly, there are other books that I find to be much better written than this. I will read the second book though, just because I’m pretty curious to see how things will play out from here. Fingers crossed that it will be much better!

Love always, E.

PS. My first book review is finally up!
If you managed to finish reading this, pleaaaase let me know what you think? <3

Here’s to an awesome 2013

For the first time ever in my life, I attended a countdown party!
Or rather, I counted down to the new year with a friend and a few hundred other strangers… But I guess the main point was that I actually got off my lazy ass and welcomed the new year a little differently from how I usually would. AND I was rewarded with pretty awesome music (THERE WAS A DISNEY MEDLEY. All is good) and a gorgeous fireworks show, for free!

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

For about ten minutes and then we had to spend close to an hour getting to the train station to get home.
Story of my life.

Still, I would like to wish everyone who is actually reading this, a very happy new year.
May 2013 be filled with awesomeness and love <3

Love always,
E

 

Book Challenges – 2013

So I just found about book challenges and decided to take part in a WHOLE bunch of them since it sounds like fun, I like to make lists AND I need to up my reading by a whole lot.
For now, they are mostly based in the Goodreads groups that I’m in, but I’m exploring those conduced by book blogs too.
Yay!

Are you participating in any challenges? Share them with me!

Sign-Ups - Hobbitsies
Goal: 12 books (or more) by debut authors in 2013

1. Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black – Review | Goodreads

 

Sign-Ups - Bookish
Goal: 11-20 (A Friendly Hug) books published BEFORE 2013

1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
2. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi – Review | Goodreads
3. Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson
4. The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Clare Legrand
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
6. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
7. Angelfall by Susan Ee
8. The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick – Review | Goodreads
9. Speechless by Hannah Harrington - Review | Goodreads
10. The Diviners by Libba Bray – Review | Goodreads
11. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – Review | Goodreads
12. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Random Riggs – Goodreads
13. Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis – Goodreads
14. Bleeding Hearts (Drake Chronicles #4) by Alyxandra Harvey – Goodreads
15. Blood Moon (Drake Chronicles #5) by Alyxandra Harvey – Goodreads
16. I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella – Goodreads
17. Easy by Tammara Webber – Review | Goodreads
18. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray – Goodreads
19. Bloodfever (Fever #2) by Karen Marie Moning – Goodreads

Goodreads Challenges 

I will be updating this through next year and will put a link under my “The Girl” page, if anyone is even reading this…

These are a few of my favourite things.

    

Find a nice photo online, photoshop the colouring, plonk in desired text and TADA
Your very own bucket list!

A (hopefully) Useful Guide to Goodreads – For Readers

For all my fellow bookworms out there, how many of you guys are currently on Goodreads (or some other similar site)?
Well, I personally have recommended the site to my friends, in hopes of having more people to join me on this wonderful social networking site, which I have actually spent more time on than Facebook.
Unfortunately, my fun little tea party did not happen and their time on the site was pretty short-lived. So I was pacing back and forth, trying to fathom what exactly was it that failed to draw them in when I realised that it was quite the case for me as well, when I first joined back in 2008.

Like all other social networking sites, to fully enjoy and utilize GR, you HAVE to have people to interact with when you are on the site. I mean, it’s called social networking for a reason right? So hopefully if you are just getting started on GR or you were one of those who first found out about GR but never really got into it, maybe this little guide will help you to rediscover the site and you might even make a few new friends (aka me)!

Okay, so you are totally new to GR or maybe you have been thinking of joining this awesome site that your friends have been talking about. Where to start?

 

1. Rope all your friends in.

If you are not too particular about revealing your inner bookworm to all the people who know you, just click the Facebook button and GR will pull all your friends on FB who are also GR users and add them to your friends list. Alternatively, if you want to keep your book fetish a secret, you can choose to find them by name or email address. I personally have my close friends on Twitter so that’s my go to list.

Of course, your offline friends may not all be into reading like you are. So look to your online friends! Are you part of any online book/reading community or book clubs? You can always create a thread or a post in whichever forum or community that you are active in to source for more like-minded book lovers who are also currently using GR.

There are also groups on GR that you can look to join, to find more people with similar interests or reading habits and what not. The possibilities are endless.

2. Start shelving books and be creative.

Part of the fun in using GR lies in Bertrand Russell’s famous quote which was very aptly paraphrased above, so get started on shelving those books! Add everything that you could remember having read and loved or hated. I started out with the the default shelves and then added some other generic ones like mystery, crime, etc. But then I realized  why stick to the boring ones that everyone seems to be using when you can have some fun?

Okay, the one you see above belongs to me and admittedly, I’m not the most creative or snarky person out there but you can be one. Create as many shelves as you want if you find that it helps you to better categorize the books that you have read or want to read. Let your shelves express how you feel about certain books. You can have warning shelves for downright horrible books that you never want to let people go near or shelves gushing how amazing the protagonist was in the book. There are really no limits for this and people who chance about your profile will have fun going through your shelves too.

3. Start choosing your idols (reviewers and authors).

I started really getting into GR after I followed a few popular reviewers and amused myself with their snarky and witty reviews. By following reviewers and authors on GR, you get their reading updates, books they have added to their shelves as well as their reviews.

What I would usually do is to check out the popular page, read a few of their reviews to gauge their writing style and then finally I would compare books to check out the books we have in common as well as the ratings. Thanks to the reviewers I’m currently following, I’ve managed to really broaden my reading scope and found loads of pretty amazing books and authors. I’ve also started interacting a little with them by leaving comments on their reviews and updates.

You can also become a fan of your favourite author(s) if they are already on GR.

4. Be an explorer.

So you are done with the three steps above and your account is roughly set up, but GR has so much more to offer! If you are feeling bored or have some spare time, check out the Explore drop down list on the top bar and you will find that you can easily waste an hour of your life doing all sorts of (fun) nonsense on the site.

5. Leave ME a comment!

And with that, I end my hopefully useful guide to Goodreads. I can safely say this is my very very first time doing up such a long post and if anyone does chance upon this, some feedback would be lovely! I’ve always had ideas for blog posts but they almost never materialize into something physical.

Also, if you have a Goodreads account and are looking to expand your circle of friends, do feel free to add me at the url below! Just a warning though, my reads are 95% YA novels.

http://www.goodreads.com/rabbitsfortea 

 

Multiple Giveaways!

So I’m back with more giveaways that I’m really hoping to win.
Here goes nothing.

First up, Monstrous Beauty. (Please do find my gushing on GR here.)

Regardless of whether you have read this amazing book, you can head over to The Midnight Garden for a simply lovely post on the photographic tour of Monstrous Beauty!

Next, The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.

Yet to read this, so I’m really hoping to win this giveaway too
Check out the review and the giveaway at The Midnight Garden here!