Monthly Archives:: August 2014

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves [August 31st]

Posted by Giselle • 17 Comments

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books we got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week.

Happy long weekend, everyone! I hope you’re enjoying it, and those who are going back to school – enjoy your last days of freedom >.< Did you stop by the blog this week? I talked about what books I seriously want to read but don’t even own yet on this week’s TTT! And Jenni blessed us with her face in a vlog where she talks about swearing in books, find it here if you missed it. Now let’s see what bookish goodies I got this week! 🙂

THIS WEEK’S BOOK HAUL:

I received for review:

*Big thanks to HarperCollins, Algonquin Books, Rhiannon Frater, and Little, Brown Book for these pretties!*

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That’s all for me this week!
XOXO

Fresh Batch (New Releases August 31st – September 6)

Posted by Giselle on 08/30/2014 • 11 Comments

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

Heir of Fire Sarah J. Maas Series: Throne of Glass #3 Publication date: September 2nd 2014by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Goodreads Purchase

Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If…

Review: MARY: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan

Posted by Giselle on 08/29/2014 • 22 Comments

For some stupid reason I read this only at nighttime and it freaked me the eff out! I have always been terrified of Bloody Mary ever since a bad experience in middle school (just stupid kids thinking we saw more than we did, but back then it was intense!) and just the idea of being haunted by her like this… nope!!!

This book delivers fantastically when it comes to horror content and hair-raising scenes, however it does have a shaky start where I found the reactions to her first appearance underwhelming. My own fear of ghosts could not fathom being so calm when faced by a ghost in a mirror… Fortunately it got more believable after that, so don’t judge it too quickly if you feel like I did. Once…

Review: Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick

Posted by Giselle on 08/28/2014 • 18 Comments

I missed the fact that this was a verse novel before I started it, but for me this was a pleasant surprise. Having been introduced to verse novels only recently, I’ve developed a liking to them. I love how raw, honest, and candid they are. Plus they feel like extremely quick reads, as if you’re just flying through. This one in particular, at only 220 some odd pages, can be read in mere minutes. The disadvantage of such a short novel, though, is that it lacks the emotional oomph and depth that I usually feel with verse writing. It does touch on an delicate subject matter – cutting as a fad – but it fails to deliver something truly poignant.

This is the story of Kenna who was caught in…

Review: Made For You by Melissa Marr

Posted by on 08/27/2014 • 14 Comments

Last year I went to my first ever book signing and was so excited to get to meet quite a few authors at the event. One of the authors was Melissa Marr and I was so curious when I saw hoe many die hard fans of hers were there. I thought to myself “I need to read a book by this lady and see what she’s all about!” I failed to do so until this past week and I am now so happy that I finally gave one of her novels a go.

Made For You is being pretty aggressively pitched as her first foray into contemporary and that it’s a gothic novel. Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I would not shelf this novel…

Books I Really Want To Read But Don’t Own Yet!

Posted by Giselle on 08/26/2014 • 31 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where we list top bookish things. Note that Giselle and Jenni often decide to split it and each do a Top 5.

Neeeeedz! Oldies

Bloodlines by Richelle Mead: I have the worst luck with spin-offs so I never bought this one when it came out, but it sounds like the series has really taken off since so I get more and more curious at each new installment. I need to catch-up! Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian: A few of my most trusted reviewer friends have loved this one hard, and I’ve been meaning to get myself a copy ever since! For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund: This…

Book Girls Don’t Cry… But They Do Have Potty Mouths!

Posted by on 08/25/2014 • 10 Comments

Book Girls Don’t Cry is a feature where we will discuss/vent/advise on a bookish topic. This feature is co-hosted with the lovely Amy at Book Loving Mom.

Hey guys! This time around Stella and I got together to chat about swearing in novels. We talk about all sorts, from when there is “too much” to the dreaded made up versions that you sometimes find. Watch and weigh in with what you think about some good ol’ bad words when you read.

How do you feel about bad words in novels? We’re looking for topic suggestions for future BGDC posts! What would YOU like to discuss (can be anything from vents to advice)? Leave a topic suggestion via this form!

Jenni’s Stacking the Shelves [Aug 24]

Posted by on 08/24/2014 • 14 Comments

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring new additions to our bookshelves.

Hey! It’s been a while since I’ve done a Stacking post! I hadn’t gotten any books when my turn came around last time so I skipped it but I got some goodies for this time around. I haven’t been doing much reading at all lately, I’ve been renovating my kitchen and it’s that time of year when I actually have a job for a few weeks so I’ve been pretty busy. Today we are headed to West Edmonton Mall Waterpark with the kiddo’s so I don’t think I’ll get any reading done today either. With that said I am still adding to the ever growing TBR, here is what I’ve got…