Monday 30 May 2011

Teaser Tuesday #3





Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My current read is Morganville Vampires Vol. 3: Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine and my two lines are :


"She dreamed that somewhere, Amelie was playing chess, moving her pieces at lightning speed across a black-and-white board.  Bishop sat across from her, grinning with too many teeth, and when he took her rook, it turned into a miniature version of Claire, and suddenly both the vampires were huge and she was so small, so small, stranded out in the open."





PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Sunday 29 May 2011

Review: Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon

      
        
            
  
      
Born of Shadows
  
      
 

Title: Born of Shadows
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Released: 26 April 2011
Source: Grand Central Publishing via netgalley
Reviewed by: SapphiredDragon
SapphiredDragon Rating:

***1/2

Pre-order/Buy: Amazon/ The Book Depository

Synopsis (via Goodreads):

Just when you think you have it all figured out, life belts you to the ground. And when Caillen discovers a truth he'd never suspected about himself, everything in his life is turned on its head. 

Desideria has a secret of her own- one that could end her life if anyone ever learns it. The last thing she expects is to meet a criminal in her sheltered world never mind find herself marooned on a hostile colony with him while his enemies try to kill them both. 

And as they struggle to survive, her father's favorite curse resonates. "May you get exactly what you want and live long enough to regret it."

Review


First up I have a small confession to make.  I haven't actually read the first three books in the The League series.  This was actually my first foray into the Sherrilyn Kenyon's writing. While I do think this may have put me at a small disadvantage as obviously I didn't recognise characters from the previous novels that both featured in and were alluded to, I was still able to enjoy the story that was being told in this book without this. 

To start with, Kenyon's main characters of Caillen Dagen and Desideria are extremely well written and likable and Kenyon gives you time to get to know them even while pushing the story along.    They are by no means perfect but this doesn't matter as you still find yourself invested in what happens to them and the journey this takes them and the reader on.

I also enjoyed the chemistry between them.  While occasionally the dialogue between them seemed a little contrived and forced, on the whole you believed them as a couple which is essential with any good romance. 

However this is not just a story about a romance.  There is action a plenty from the first scene onwards as Caillen and Desideria unravel murder plots and escape hostile aliens trying to kill them.  As reader, I felt like I was close to the edge of my seat the whole time wondering just what would happen next as they seemed to escape from one extreme situation to the next. 

I didn't predict the ending which is always a good thing and Kenyon throws in enough twists and turns that you are never sure if you have the whole answer until the end.  The only trouble I did have was that towards the end things got a little confusing and it wasn't always clear who was speaking or being spoken about and it took me a couple of reads of the last few chapters to try to get my head around exactly what had happened

Overall though I give this story a 3 1/2 stars and thoroughly recommend this to all Sherrilyn Kenyon fans. To those who are new to this author, I would recommend you start with the first three books in the series as I think if I had started with these first, I would have been able to give this book a four star rating.

Sapphired Dragon xx

In My Mailbox #4



Welcome to  In My Mailbox, a meme run by The Story Siren where each week over 200 bloggers post on their blogs the books they have bought, received to review or won in the past week. 
To find out more information, get involved yourself or see what's in other bloggers mailboxes this week head over to The Story Siren or to find out what is in my mailbox this week, keep reading.
Don't forget to comment and post your IMM link or just let me know what's in your mail box this week:



So nothing new to review received this week which has given me a little time to catch up on what I am currently reading to review.

Purchased :

Gotta love book sales though they can also be a little dangerous :-p


      
      
        
            
  
      
Hex Hall
      
The Morganville Vampires, Volume 3
      
Dark of the Moon
      
Moonlight
      
Full Moon
      
Shadow of the Moon
      
Hush, Hush
      
Siren
      
Spy Glass
      
    

Nikk's favorite books »
  
  
  
}
      
      
    

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

The Morganville Vampires Vol. 3  by Rachel Caine
Goodreads |  Amazon | The Book Depository

Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne (Dark Guardian #1)
Goodreads |  Amazon | The Book Depository

Full Moon by Rachel Hawthorne (Dark Guardian #2)
Goodreads |  Amazon | The Book Depository

Dark of the Moon by Rachel Hawthorne (Dark Guardian #3)
Goodreads |  Amazon | The Book Depository

Shadow of the Moon by Rachel Hawthorne (Dark Guardian #4)
Goodreads |  Amazon
| The Book Depository

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick 
Goodreads |  Amazon| The Book Depository

Siren by Tricia Rayburn
Goodreads |  Amazon| The Book Depository

Spy Glass by Maria V Snyder
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

So what was in your mailbox this week?

Monday 23 May 2011

Teaser Tuesdays #2



Welcome to my first Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon and my two lines are on page 199:

I'm going to die.  She knew it.




PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Sunday 22 May 2011

In My Mailbox #3



Welcome to  In My Mailbox, a meme run by The Story Siren where each week over 200 bloggers post on their blogs the books they have bought, received to review or won in the past week. 
To find out more information, get involved yourself or see what's in other bloggers mailboxes this week head over to The Story Siren or to find out what is in my mailbox this week, keep reading.
Don't forget to comment and post your IMM link or just let me know what's in your mail box this week:
To Review:






Agatha H and the Airship City
Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home




Agatha H and the Airship City by  Phil and Kaja Foglio
Received from Night Shade Books via Netgalley
Due to be released : 9 August 2011
Buy/Pre-Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis by Tracy Hickman
Received from Fantasy Flight Games via Netgalley
Due to be released : 23 August 2011
Buy/Pre-Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 1
Received from Dark Horse Comics via Netgalley
Released : 31 October 2007
Buy/Pre-Order: Amazon | Book Depository


Purchased/Borrowed:


amy
The Gathering
Evernight
Abandon
Feast of Fools
Fire
Graceling
Die for Me
Divergent




The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong               amazon | book depository
Evernight by Claudia Gray                              amazon | book depository
Abandon by Meg Cabot                                   amazon | book depository
Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine                        amazon | book depository
Fire by Kristin Cashore                                    amazon | book depository
Graceling by Kristin Cashore                           amazon | book depository
Die For Me by Amy Plum                                amazon | book depository
Divergent by Veronica Roth                              amazon | book depository

 

What did you get in your mailbox this week?



Friday 20 May 2011

Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

Title: Abandon
Author: Meg Cabot
Released: 26 April 2011
Reviewed by: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: ***
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Synopsis (via Goodreads) :
New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a dark, fantastical story about this world . . . and the underworld.
Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.
But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.
Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Review:

I was really excited to read this book. The whole re-adaption and inspiration of the Hades/Persephone story seemed incredibly intriguing and I couldn't wait to see what Cabot would do with it.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, there is a story there and I did enjoy it but I felt the way it was told drew it out out a little too much and then the flashbacks confused the issue more than it clarified.

I found myself a little frustrated at the way each chapter was drawn out and would allude to what was to happen further on in such a way that it drew from the suspense rather than added to it.  I also found myself a little fristrated with main character, Pierce, who seemed to vacillate between total cluelessness and knowing almost too much and found the revelations toward the end came just a little too easily.

That being said, there was a definitely story there and I still found myself wanting to read to the end to see where it was going.

This is the first book in a trilogy so it was clear Cabot was trying to set up the trilogy as well as tell a first instalment story. Despite the above, I did actually really quite enjoy the story and will continue to read the next instalment as I am still intrigued as to where it will go however the above did distract me a little from the story bring my rating of this book from from four to three stars.

Definitely worth reading especially if you are not easily distracted by writing styles.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Kristin Cashore visits Galaxy Bookshop + a Giveaway!!

On Thursday 19th May 2011, Kristin Cashore visited Galaxy Bookshop in Sydney for a book signing.  In Sydney for the Sydney Writers Festival May 16 - 22, Kristin has been popping up in a book store here and there to sign copies of both her books: Graceling and Fire .


While there were not a lot of people there, those that were there got to have their books signed and also photos with Kristin herself.

Kristin will be signing books at Kinokuniya Books at 6 pm 20th May and will be appearing at the Sydney Writers Festival on Sunday 22 May.

To celebrate Kristin visiting Sydney, I am giving away to one lucky person a copy of both Graceling AND Fire, each book signed by Kristin herself.  Entries close June 10th so sign up for your chance to win!


Competition Finished