Yearly Archives:: 2012

Monday, April 02, 2012

Review + Giveaway: Grave Mercy

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Grave Mercy
Robin LaFevers
Series: His Fair Assassin, #1
Release date: April 3rd, 2012
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

*A copy was provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for review purposes*

Assassins. NUN assassins. Who is not immediately intrigued by this premise? I sure was. It started with a bang too. We are introduced to our feisty protagonist, Ismae; with a bitter childhood and a somber future, she is sent to a convent where she will train to do Death’s bidding. With this great main character and exciting plot, I obviously enjoyed it, my problems lay with the historical/political stand-points where I found myself getting confused and disinterested.

I have enjoyed historicals in the past, but not being a historical nut, Grave Mercy really had me overwhelmed. I had difficulty keeping up with the characters and their roles in this immense political scandal set in a time I am unfamiliar with. I mean, I am not unintelligent, I could keep up with the main plot points but it affected my ability to truly understand these characters and, thus, develop a connection with them. I kept forgetting their roles in this conspiracy, which in turn, also affected my reactions to the twists ; the unraveling of the betrayers was not as affecting as I feel it should have been. It also didn’t help that I couldn’t easily go back to check the character index with my e-reader. I may have been able to follow more easily if it had been a print copy.

With that out of the way, I thoroughly enjoyed everything else. Ismae, the setting, the writing – it’s all excellent and I can see why so many are absolutely in love with this title. Ismae is the type of girl everyone loves, and should also fear (if only they knew). She can kill a man in a second, she does as she pleases, and she’s highly intelligent. Plus, her being constantly underestimated makes her even more dangerous. I had a blast going into this story with her. She also has a great sense of humor that had me chuckling quite a bit.

I found the writing especially wonderful. This is often a big part of why I sometimes can’t get into historicals, but LaFevers gives it all a great flow with an easy to follow prose, vivid descriptions, and enchanting dialogue. I especially loved how she wrote the relationship between Ismae and Duval. It starts off as a mutual distrust, and slowly builds into sometimes heart-meltingly sweet.

Intrigue, conspiracies, scandals, betrayals – you can find it all inside these 549 pages. It does have an immense amount of historical intrigue so for those who are able to follow this will become positively entranced in this powerful, action packed novel. 

3 Hot Espressos
Giveaway
Thomas Allen & Son has generously offered up FIVE copies of Grave Mercy for giveaway to five lucky readers.

Open to Canadian addresses only (sorry guys, they’re a Canadian distributor)
Giveaway ends April 6th, 2012
Use the Rafflecopter below to enter

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Cover Reveal: Astarte’s Wrath & Fairy Blues

Posted by on 04/02/2012 • 28 Comments

Astarte’s Wrath Trisha Wolfe Series: Kythan Guardians #0.5 Release date: July, 2012 Add it to your Goodreads

A Kythan Guardians Novella

Two thousand years before Dez Harkly developed her secret powers, Kythan Astarte vowed to free the Kythans from the binds that enslaved them to the Egyptian pharaohs and sorcerers. Discover the prophecy that originated from a very different time, and spans generations to link two very different girls…This is the beginning.

Set against the backdrop of the Battle of Actium, in the city of Alexandria, Star struggles with her guardian duties as her feelings for the newly named pharaoh of Egypt grow deeper. Not only is Caesarian her duty, he’s the son of Cleopatra, and he’s…human. All of which makes their love forbidden.

But when a…

Review: Chosen Ones by Tiffany Truitt

Posted by on 04/01/2012 • 0 Comments

Chosen OnesTiffany TruittSeries: The Lost Souls, #1 Release date: June 12th, 2012by Entangled Publishing

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What if you were mankind’s last chance at survival?

Sixteen-year-old Tess lives in a compound in what was once the Western United States, now decimated after a devastating fourth World War. But long before that, life as we knew it had been irrevocably changed, as women mysteriously lost the ability to bring forth life. Faced with the extinction of the human race, the government began the Council of Creators, meant to search out alternative methods of creating life. The resulting artificial human beings, or Chosen Ones, were extraordinarily beautiful, unbelievably strong, and unabashedly deadly.

Life is bleak, but uncomplicated for Tess as she follows the rigid rules of her dystopian society, until…

In My Mailbox (28)

Posted by on 04/01/2012 • 87 Comments

“In My Mailbox” is a meme, created by Kristi at The Story Siren, that features books I have received/ purchased/ borrowed during the week. 

Hi ladies and gents! I just got back from my second viewing of the Hunger Games and it was just as amazing, and now I’m in a super mood! 😀 So what happened this week? I had the blog tour for Someone Else’s Life drop by for my review and a really fun interview here. I also received two copies of The Calling as you can see below, so I’m hosting a giveaway for the 2nd copy : enter here.

This week, I got for review (click on cover or title link for Goodreads):

–Ascend by Amanda Hocking –The Obsidian Blade by Pete Hautman…

Fresh Batch (April 1st – 7th)

Posted by on 03/31/2012 • 19 Comments

Exclusively titled for Xpresso Reads, Fresh Batch features the hottest releases of this upcoming week. Flavor of the week:

Black Heart

Holly Black Series: Curse Workers, #3 Release date: April 3rd, 2012by Margaret K. McElderry

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Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.

But with a…

Review: The Night She Disappeared

Posted by on 03/30/2012 • 28 Comments

The Night She DisappearedApril HenryRelease date: March 13th, 2012by Henry Holt and Co.

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Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.

*A copy was provided by Raincoast Books for review purposes* The Night She Disappeared, with only 240 pages, is a short but…

Review: Exiled by M.R. Merrick

Posted by on 03/29/2012 • 33 Comments

ExiledM.R. MerrickSeries: The Protector, #1Release date: June 28th, 2011

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Chase Williams is a demon hunter in the Circle, or at least he was supposed to be. On his fifteenth birthday, Chase stepped up to the altar to claim his elemental power, but it never came. Elemental magic is passed down to a hunter through the bloodline, but on Chase’s birthday, the bloodline stopped.

Exiled without the Circle’s protection, Chase has spent two years trying to survive a world riddled with half-demons and magic. When he has a run in with a frightened and seemingly innocent demon, he learns the Circle’s agenda has changed: the Circle plans to unlock a portal and unleash pure-blood demons into the world. Vowing to stop them, and knowing he can’t do…

Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

Posted by on 03/28/2012 • 22 Comments

SlideJill Hathaway Release date: March 27th, 2012by Balzer + Bray

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Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody…