The Lumatere Chronicles Readalong: Week 1

Feb 9
Lumatere

Check out this week’s prompts over at Hannah’s blog!!

My Thoughts

So, I’m pretty much hooked on FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK so far, guys. I have to admit, it took me a few chapters to get a grasp on the who/what/where of this world (especially because I’m reading this book on my kindle so, even though there are maps, I can’t get to them easily while reading to orient myself). That usually happens for me in lots of fantasies I read. But I think Melina Marchetta has really created a great world with tons of political drama and dangerous magic and treachery. There’s so much at stake for these characters!

Speaking of characters, I love them all. Finnikin is kind of intense and prickly, but guys he has SO MUCH LOVE for his country. I really enjoy the deep connections that all of the characters still feel for Lumatere. And I’m completely intrigued by Evanjalin. I feel like I have a thought about who she might be but I don’t know. I’m oftentimes wrong when I postulate that way, so I’ll keep it under wraps for now. Just trust that she’s awesome, but a total unknown quantity.

Anywho, Hannah, our awesome hostess, has given us the following questions to hash out our thoughts on this week’s reading, which was all of Part One. More chatting after the jump!!

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Book Review: Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Feb 1

Book cover for Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Stealing Parker
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Series: Hundred Oaks, #2
Genre: Contemporary YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: October 1, 2012
Source: Gifted a copy from Tara (Thank you!!)

Summary: Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.

Now Parker wants a new life.

So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?

But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?

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Book Review: Prodigy by Marie Lu

Jan 28

Book cover for Prodigy by Marie LuTitle: Prodigy
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Legend, #2
Genre: Dystopian YA
Publisher: Putnam
Release date: January 29, 2013
Amazon | Goodreads
Source: ARC from Publisher

Summary: June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action.

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Book Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Jan 25

Book cover for Just One Day by Gayle FormanTitle: Just One Day
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: Just One Day #1
Genre: Contemporary YA
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release date: January 8, 2013
Amazon | Goodreads
Challenge: YA Contemporary Challenge
Source: Bought

Summary: When sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.
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Book Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Jan 17

Book cover for The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Title: The False Prince

Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen

Series: The Ascendance Trilogy #1

Genre: Fantasy YA

Amazon | Goodreads

Publisher: Scholastic

Release date: April 1, 2012

Challenge: TBR Challenge

Summary: In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

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Book Review | Shadowlands | Kate Brian

Jan 11

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Shadowlands | Kate BrianShadowlands by Kate Brian
Series: Shadowlands #1
Published by Disney Hyperion on January 8, 2013
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye.

Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

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Book Review | The Gleaning | Heidi R. Kling

Dec 14

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | The Gleaning | Heidi R. KlingThe Gleaning by Heidi R. Kling
Series: The Spellspinners of Melas County #2
Published by Colliloquy on November 12, 2014
Genres: Paranormal YA, Witches, Young Adult
Pages: 200
Format: eARC
Also in this series: Witch's Brew
Also by this author: Witch's Brew
Source: the publisher
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
three-stars

In the second installment of the Spellspinners saga, Lily’s worldview is rocked by fear, mistrust, and heartbreak, as she deals with the fallout from the night of her enchantment.

Someone powerful is determined to keep her and Logan apart. But who? And why?

As the covens prepare to do battle in the Solstice Stones, the lines between good and evil, dark and light, begin to blur. Allegiances are called into question. Trust is broken. And all Lily knows may just be an illusion.

Will the star-crossed lovers unearth the seeds of betrayal before it’s too late? Or will the witches and warlocks of Melas County be forced to say goodbye to their magic—and any chance of reconciliation between the covens—for good?

In The Gleaning, nothing is as it seems. And Lily and Logan will have to tread carefully if they hope to uncover the truth in time to save their love and break the curse.

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Book Review | The Lost Prince | Julie Kagawa

Nov 19

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | The Lost Prince | Julie KagawaThe Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa
Series: The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on October 23, 2012
Genres: Faeries, Urban Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 377
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-half-stars

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.

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Book Review: Conjure by Lea Nolan

Nov 16

Book cover for Conjure by Lea Nolan

Title: Conjure

Author: Lea Nolan

Series: Hoodoo Apprentice #1

Genre: Paranormal YA, Contemporary YA, Magic

Publisher: Entangled

Release date: October 23, 2012

Amazon | Goodreads

Source: Netgalley

Summary: Emma Guthrie expects this summer to be like any other in the South Carolina Lowcountry–hot and steamy with plenty of beach time alongside her best friend and secret crush, Cooper Beaumont, and Emma’s ever-present twin brother, Jack. But then a mysterious eighteenth-century message in a bottle surfaces, revealing a hidden pirate bounty. Lured by the adventure, the trio discovers the treasure and unwittingly unleashes an ancient Gullah curse that attacks Jack with the wicked flesh-eating Creep and promises to steal Cooper’s soul on his approaching sixteenth birthday.

When a strange girl appears, bent on revenge; demon dogs become a threat; and Jack turns into a walking skeleton; Emma has no choice but to learn hoodoo magic to undo the hex, all before summer—and her friends–are lost forever.

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Book Review + Giveaway | The Raven Boys | Maggie Stiefvater

Oct 29

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review + Giveaway | The Raven Boys | Maggie StiefvaterThe Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle #1
Published by Scholastic on September 18, 2012
Genres: Paranormal YA, Urban Fantasy YA, Young Adult
Pages: 409
Format: ARC
Also in this series: The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Also by this author: The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Source: the publisher
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
five-stars

There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

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