Posts By: Giselle

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Giselle’s Stacking the Shelves [August 17th]

Posted by Giselle • 21 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.

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying our last few weeks of summer. Excuse me while I go sob in a corner >.< So this week on the blog we got the lovely Alexandra Adornetto who came to visit during her blog tour. There’s an interview and a giveaway here if you missed it!

THIS WEEK’S BOOK HAUL:

I received for review:

–The Fall by Bethany Griffin
–Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

*Thanks to MacKids Books, Entangled Teen, HarperCollins Canada and Random House Children’s for these pretties!*

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That’s all for me this week!
XOXO

Fresh Batch (New Releases August 17th – 23rd)

Posted by Giselle on 08/16/2014 • 9 Comments

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

Flavor of the week:

Visions Kelley Armstrong Series: Cainsville #2 Publication date: August 19th 2014by Dutton

Goodreads Purchase

As #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s new Cainsville series continues, Olivia’s power to read omens leads to the discovery of a gruesome crime with troubling connections to her new hometown.

Omens, the first installment in Kelley Armstrong’s exciting new series, introduced Olivia Taylor-Jones, daughter of notorious serial killers, and Gabriel Walsh, the self-serving, morally ambiguous lawyer who became her unlikely ally. Together, they chased down a devious killer and partially cleared her parents of their horrifying crimes.

Their success, however, is short-lived. While Olivia takes refuge…

Review: Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

Posted by Giselle on 08/14/2014 • 22 Comments

Whoa! Having had no luck with witch books lately this was a nice surprise. It’s unique and well written, with a quick pacing that turned it into an unputdownable read.

Trial by Fire starts with the introduction of Lily, a sickly girl who has had a rough life of weakness and fevers. I knew right then that this was going to be a great read. This girl was funny, awkward, easy to connect to, and with a compelling narrative voice. Plus you just knew this constant sickness was something witchy and had you craving to know more. Wanting to get away from all of it, Lily finally gives in to the voice inside her head that, unbeknownst to her, is from another world completely. When she suddenly finds herself in…

Interview with Alexandra Adornetto + Giveaway!

Posted by Giselle on 08/13/2014 • 40 Comments

As a big fan of ghost stories, I’m excited to have the Ghost House tour stop by today where I got to interview Alexandra Adornetto, and you can enter to win before you go!

Interview with Alexandra Adornetto

What’s the best word to describe Ghost House?

Haunting.

What’s the biggest challenge you had while writing this book?

Allowing Alex to be a 19th century gentleman with 19th century values, without making him come across as an oppressive or controlling figure in Chloe’s life. I feel like this was best avoided by making Chloe sassy and confident within herself. I couldn’t change Alex, but I could make sure she knew how to hold her own!

Do you have a favorite scene from Ghost House?

The flashback sequence where Alex…

Review: Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

Posted by Giselle on 08/11/2014 • 9 Comments

This was a straaaange book! But most importantly: it’s deliciously creepy!

Brenna delights us with some more of her gothic, morbid, yet marvelously fascinating storytelling in her newest release. Fiendish is compelling from the very first chapter. After a quick introduction to Clementine, a slight glimpse of who she was prior, we experience her entrapment inside this cellar, held in place by willow roots, while a decade passes. The cryptic but riveting manner with which the passing of time is described had me enchanted. It was, in a way, full of desperation and longing, though strangely beautiful. All of this occurs within the first few chapters, laying the foundation – and the promise – of an eccentric, highly original road to come. Once Clementine is set free, however, is when…

Fresh Batch (New Releases August 10th – 16th)

Posted by Giselle on 08/09/2014 • 8 Comments

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

Flavor of the week:

Isla and the Happily Ever After Stephanie Perkins Series: Anna and the French Kiss #3 Publication date: August 14th 2014 by Dutton

Goodreads Purchase

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren’t always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain…

Review: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Posted by Giselle on 08/08/2014 • 24 Comments

Awww! What a cute and sweet read. A Little Something Different is exactly that – a romance story that is different from any I’ve read before, and one that leaves you with a silly smile on your face. The perfect rainy-day read, that’s for sure!

In short, this is a love story about two people who keep misreading each other. One is extremely shy, the other is quiet and reluctant, not realizing they’re both into each other. What makes this book unique, though, is the way it’s told. We don’t go into this story with the perspective of our main characters, but rather everyone around them, even including a squirrel and a bench who, unsurprisingly, talks a lot about butts. The number of perspectives is at a whopping 14, rotating…

Review: The Aftermath by Jen Alexander

Posted by Giselle on 08/06/2014 • 8 Comments

With a highly unique premise and complex world building, The Aftermath easily stands out in its genre. It’s very well thought-out with a lot to love for gamers especially, but it did fall flat in character development and plot progression.

In few words: Claudia is a character in a post-apocalyptic game, being controlled by the person playing her (who is most likely a psychopath). Cool, right? I thought so. This concept is really intriguing, but how it was executed could have used a little more… oomph. It didn’t take long for me to grow frustrated with our heroine, Claudia. Not her personality itself, but how easily she clued into this wild concept we’re thrown in. After only a few clues, Claudia puts it all together, even asks herself how she…