Iron Knight ARC Contest

http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/2011/08/iron-knight-arc-contest-day-with-ash-or.html

"If you had one day with Ash (or Puck), what would you do?"

I don't know! I'm about three quarters of the way through The Iron King so I haven't officially decided a team yet but I am absolutely loving this book and I'm glad I bought all three books before I started reading any of them. I will be staying up tonight until I am done with this book and there is a good chance I will start The Iron Daughter too, and that will probably be my late night read tomorrow night :)

Timeless

Timless by Alexandra Monir. This was an amazing book. First you get a taste of modern California, then modern NYC, and then NYC in the early 1910's, 1920's, and 1940's. It has a sense of historical fiction and yet something paranormal at the same time. I stayed up very late to finish this book and then I was up even later unable to get it out of my head. It was the first thing I thought of upon waking too (okay the first might have been "ughhhh why did I stay up so late!). There were so many little bits and pieces in this book that might not have made sense on their own but by the end looking back everything fit together absolutely perfectly.

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.

Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

5 out of 5 stars

Beauty Queens

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. When I first started reading this I didn't like it at all. Here it was just another book making pretty girls seem dumb. Seriously who cares about a missing shoe when your plane has just crashed?! As the story continued the characters began to develop and the story became suspenseful. Each girl became an individual instead of a brainless bimbo. They had to work hard to overcome many different obstacles. I also loved the footnotes, commercial breaks, and notes from the sponsor parts of the book, at first I found them annoying but as the book went on I started to appreciate the snarky tone the stranded girls would have been saying them in, rather then the cheerful tone from The Corporation.

From bestselling, Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray, the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island.

Teen beauty queens. A "Lost"-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

4 out of 5 stars

Blood Red Road

Blood Red Road by Moria Young. Amazing book! I absolutely hated this book when I started it. I didn't enjoy the way it was written at all. The story was interesting but I just could get past the dialog. I kept reading though because I'd heard it was good and the story itself caught my interest right away. After the first 100 pages or so I stopped being annoyed with the writing and was so caught up in the story I forgot about it. Absolutely glad I stuck it out until the end :)

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

5 out of 5 stars

Relic Master: The Dark City

Relic Master: The Dark City by Catherine Fisher. This was a very easy read despite the totally foreign world it takes place in. It was very interesting too. There are a ton of unanswered questions to leave me waiting for the next book but at the same time enough was resolved that I'm not completely annoyed.

Welcome to Anara, a world mysteriously crumbling to devastation, where nothing is what it seems: Ancient relics emit technologically advanced powers, members of the old Order are hunted by the governing Watch yet revered by the people, and the great energy that connects all seems to also be destroying all. The only hope for the world lies in Galen, a man of the old Order and a Keeper of relics, and his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Raffi. They know of a secret relic with great power that has been hidden for centuries. As they search for it, they will be tested beyond their limits. For there are monstersÑsome human, some notÑthat also want the relic's power and will stop at nothing to get it.

4 out of 5 stars

Everlasting

Everlasting by Alyson Noel, the sixth and final book in the Immortals series. This series had me hooked in the first book but after that it was all down hill in my opinion. In the very end I was satisfied but throughout this book Ever still continued to annoy the crap out of me. I though the reincarnation idea was neat but in the end they just put way to many different things together- reincarnation, karma, chakras, finding your purpose in life etc. While this ideas may all be connected it was just to much in one series, let alone one book, in my opinion.

Their epic love story has captured the hearts of millions and enchanted readers across the world. In this beautiful finale, their journey draws to a spectacular conclusion—where all will be revealed.

Their darkest enemies now defeated, Damen and Ever are free to embark upon their final quest—to free Damen from the poison lingering in his body. If they can just find the antidote, they’ll finally be able to feel each other’s touch—and experience the passionate night they’ve been longing for. But their fight to be together will lead them into the most formidable terrain yet…into the dark heart of Summerland.

Here in a land of scorched earth and endless rain, Ever and Damen will discover their relationship’s hidden origins, expose a secret history they never imagined…and come face to face with thetruereason fate keeps tearing them apart. Only then, when the final mystery is unraveled and the last secret revealed, Ever and Damen’s future will hinge on one ultimate decision that will put everything at stake….even eternity.

3 out of 5 stars

Forgive My Fins

Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs. I really liked this book but also found Lily to be really annoying. I hate when young adult characters refuse to see what is right in front of them. I know its a part of YA but its a little ridiculous when every other character in the story knows what is going on except the main character. With that said though I thought the world was very interesting and loved the concept. Can't wait to read the next one.

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

4 out of 5 stars