Stacking The Shelves #8

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews. To participate all you have to do is create a post listing any books you've received for review, as a gift, brought yourself or borrowed from a library. I’m going to be posting this every Monday give or take a week when I haven’t bought or received any books.

Purchased and Borrowed Books

Side Effects May Vary - Julie Murphy, Goodreads - Book Depository

Half Bad - Sally Green, Goodreads - Book Depository

Stolen Songbird - Danielle L Jensen, Goodreads - Book Depository

Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige, Goodreads - Book Depository

The Crowded Shadows - Celine Kiernan, Goodreads - Book Depository

Days of Blood and Starlight, Goodreads - Book Depository

Scarygirl - Nathan Jurevicius, Goodreads - Book Depository

Bone: Out From Boneville - Jeff Smith, Goodreads - Book Depository

Bone: The Great Cow Race - Jeff Smith, Goodreads - Book Depository

Making a TBR Jar

Hello my name is Katie and I’m a chronic book hoarder. Recently I have come to the sad concussion that my bookcases are completely full. I have shuffled and shuffled but no more room ever going to appear! I even have the tell tale bend in my shelves that are just yelling at me to lighten their loads.

This lead me to the idea of creating a TBR Jar, I’ve seen a few people create this cool idea and I have so many books that have been brought for me or buy me that I have no intention of reading that need to go! A number of books I have hold little appeal to me due to the genre or the age that the book is meant for but  being a class A hoarder I can’t ever get rid of any thing including books without ridiculous amounts of thought and heart-ache. 

To make things easier, I’m setting myself some rules to accompany my TBR Jar; each month I’ll pull out a minimum of one slip of paper that will have a title of a book I haven’t read yet. Of course I will still be reading other books but this is just to try and clear some room. The getting rid of books part comes into play with the clause that if I don’t want to read a book and don’t have a decent reason, it’s destined for a new life with someone else. I know I’m going to come up with stupid excuses but I’m sure I have some even I can’t even think of a reason to keep.

Just for fun I took some photos as I created my Jar and here they are so 

you can see me suffer cutting out all the titles of my unread books 

I decided to hand write out all my title just for fun,

I also didn't feel like typing them out then trying to cut without any lines! 

A fun little fact about me is that I have terrible fine motor skills

 I can’t cut straight or even draw straight lines with the help of a ruler.

After some serious effort and lots of twitter breaks, here is the finished product!

 I had a small problem with the fact I picked a jar to small for my hand 

to fit in but I soon corrected that with an old lolly jar laying round the house!

Do you have a way to clear your TBR pile, can you give a hoarder some tips?

 Have you made a TBR Jar or are you planning to?

Book Review: Don’t Even Think About It - Sarah Mlynowski

Pub. Date- May 1st 2014 Publisher- Orchard Books

Pages- 304 Genre- Paranormal/Young Adult Rating- 5 Stars

I received this courtesy of Orchard Books through 

Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Goodreads - Book Depository

This is the story of how we became freaks. It's how a group of I's became a we.

When Class 10B got their flu shots, they expected some side effects. Maybe a sore arm. Maybe a headache. They definitely didn't expect to get telepathy. But suddenly they could hear what everyone was thinking. Their friends. Their teachers. Their parents. Now they all know that Tess has a crush on her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. Some of them will thrive. Some of them will break. None of them will ever be the same. 

A smart and funny story about friendship, first love and surviving high school from the bestselling author of Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done. 

What do get when you combine a fun, new premise with witty easy to read writing? The correct answer here is a great story and that’s exactly what Don’t Even Think About It is. Flu shots at school were always traumatic but when you add in the side affect of uncontrollable telepathy, things are going to get very messed up.

The most interesting thing for about Don’t Even Think About It was definitely how everything was narrated, a multiple first person view was used or a collective view I guess. Being that practically the whole class of 10B could read each other minds the story was told by all of them with alternating viewpoints that flowed together, with the others as a collectively jumping in to put their two cents worth very so often. At the very start it could be a little bit confusing as to whom was telling what but as you learn the individuals voices and personalities it soon becomes so entertaining and fun.

Everything about this book was very normalised. The Epsies’ as they called themselves, were just average selfish teenagers that only thought about using their powers for things like being smartest in class, finding out if a boy likes them or getting the boyfriend and overcoming self-esteem issues. None of the Epsies’ could control their telepathy so they heard some hilarious things like a girl wondering if she was on her period, parents having sex and perverted boys being boys.

I’m the first to admit that there was not strong character arc’s for any of the story, but it’s the light content made it better in my opinion.  The sweet nature of the book made it a quick and enjoyable to read and it never stalled because the characters weren’t developing as fast as they had been previously. That’s something that really slows down my reading usually.

All in all, I would compare this to eating grapes, it was sweet quick and simple but would give you a stomach ache if ate to many. This is a once in a while 'I need a mind break' kind of book. I’m definitely going to be purchasing this when it comes out, I mean just look at the cover.

Will you give this a chance and add it to your TBR? Are you lucky like me and got to read it early?

Book Review: Riot - Sarah Mussi

Pub. Date- May 1st 2014 Publisher- Hachette Children’s Books
Pages- 352 Genre- Science Fiction/Young Adult Rating- 2 Stars

I received this courtesy of Hachette Children’s Books through
NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Goodreads - Book Depository

It is 2018. England has been struggling under a recession that has shown no sign of abating. Years of cuts has devastated Britain: banks are going under, businesses closing, prices soaring, unemployment rising, prisons overflowing. The authorities cannot cope. And the population has maxed out. The Police are snowed under. Something has to give. Drastic measures need taking.
The solution: forced sterilisation of all school leavers without further education plans or guaranteed employment. The country is aghast. Families are distraught, teenagers are in revolt, but the politicians  are unshakeable: The population explosion must be curbed. No more free housing for single parents, no more child benefits, no more free school meals, no more children in need. Less means more.But it is all so blatantly unfair - the Teen Haves will procreate, the Teen Havenots won’t. It’s time for the young to take to the streets.
It’s time for them to RIOT: OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE, OUR BODIES, OUR FUTURE.

Riot has all the makings of a great book but fell short, on the follow through of a pretty cool idea.  We start off in the year 2018 and things have really changed and certainly not for the better, England is crowded to the max and there are people living in poverty and need everywhere.  The government has come up with a bill to reduce the number of people in need. If teenagers don’t have money, a job or plans to study further they then get ‘the snip’ which is pretty much castration and they are have no choice about it. From the very start of the book everything was confusing and an the interesting premise goes downhill fast, to the point where this would have been a one star book but it got two for the great.

Lets start with the bit I disliked most then go from there. The time period this is set in is literally only four years on from now. It is very unbelievable that England, a country that is pretty well off in the scheme of things has suddenly fallen to nearly complete ruin. Why has the no one else in the world been like ‘hey that’s defying so many human rights, you shouldn’t do that’, also considering England has a flipping (something Tia says way to often like every paragraph) Monarchy. Where were they in this whole bill situation? The Monarch does have the power to say no to any bill and then its done and dusted. Where were they? Everything about the book would have been so much more realistic if it was not in a time period so easily envisioned.  

Now to the characters whom I either really didn’t like or feel connected to at all. Tia the protagonist and narrator is one of the most naïve and irritating characters that’s had the joy of frustrating the hell out of me. For a hacker that has organised protests and knows all about an underground network she really knows nothing about the real world, for a lot of the first part of the book, when people are being shot and everyone is rioting all she’s worried about is getting back to school so they don’t call her father, really Tia, really. I did enjoy the style that Tia’s narration was in but that’s really it other than her relationship with Corbain that redeemed her.  As every girl knows your relationship should be the best part about you. Tia and Corbain’s relationship is very cute and thankfully is not instalove they learn to trust and rely on each other before them being together is even a thing.

Some other things I didn’t enjoy were how obvious the villain was and the horrible ending that wrapped up everything in the most simple and neat way possible. I’m not going to fully explain the ending as not to give any accidental spoilers but it was gag worthy.

To sum up my thoughts about this book, yes it was action packed but very confusing and not greatly written in a sense that nothing was really explained or given a reason as to why it happen. I would plan Sarah Mussi’s other book sometime in the future to see if it was her writing I don’t personally enjoy or if this book is a fluke.

Have you read this? Have you read Sarah Mussi’s other book?

Shaking The Shelves #7

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews. To participate all you have to do is create a post listing any books you've received for review, as a gift or just brought yourself or borrowed from a library. I’m going to be posting this every Monday give or take a week when I haven’t bought or received any books. I think this is my biggest haul ever its to make up for my lack of posts lately!

Purchased Books and Borrowed Books

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell, Goodreads - Book Depository

Falling Kingdoms - Morgan Rhodes, Goodreads - Book Depository

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey, Goodreads - Book Depository

Divine by Mistake - P.C Cast, Goodreads - Book Depository
Divine by Choice - P.C Cast, Goodreads - Book Depository
Divine by Blood - P.C Cast - Goodreads - Book Depository

  

The Demon King - Cinda Williams Chima, Goodreads - Book Depository
The Exiled Queen - Cinda Williams Chima, Goodreads - Book Depository
The Gray Wolf Throne - Cinda Williams Chima, Goodreads - Book Depository

The Crimson Crown - Cinda Williams Chima, Goodreads - Book Depository
Incarnate - Jodi Meadows, Goodreads - Book Depository
Asunder - Jodi Meadows, Goodreads - Book Depository

Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor, Goodreads - Book Depository

Ink - Amanda Sun, Goodreads - Book Depository

On the Jellicoe Road, Goodreads - Book Depository

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides, Goodreads - Book Depository
The Rithmatist - Brandon Sanderson, Goodreads - Book Depository
Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman, Goodreads - Book Depository

Beastly - Alex Flinn, Goodreads - Book Depository
The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater, Goodreads - Book Depository
Dream Thieves -Maggie Stiefvater, Goodreads - Book Depository

Review Copies

Popular: Vintage Wisdom For A Modern Geek - Maya Van Wagen, Goodreads - Book Depository

Second Star - Alyssa B. Sheinmel, Goodreads - Book Depository

Between The Lives - Jessica Shirvington, Goodreads - Book Depository

 

Winning the Player - Lessa Bow, Goodreads - Amazon

Dangerous Creatures - Kami Garci, Margaret Stohl, Goodreads - Book Depository

Book Review: Transcendence - Shay Savage

Pub. Date- Feb 13th 2014 Publisher- Independently Published

Pages- 312 Genre- Historical Romance/New Adult Stars- 4.5

Goodreads - Amazon

It’s said that women and men are from two different planets when it comes to communication, but how can they overcome the obstacles of prehistoric times when one of them simply doesn’t have the ability to comprehend language?
Ehd’s a caveman living on his own in a harsh wilderness. He’s strong and intelligent, but completely alone. When he finds a beautiful young woman in his pit trap, it’s obvious to him that she is meant to be his mate. He doesn’t know where she came from; she’s wearing some pretty odd clothing, and she makes a lot of noises with her mouth that give him a headache. Still, he’s determined to fulfill his purpose in life – provide for her, protect her, and put a baby in her.
Elizabeth doesn’t know where she is or exactly how she got there. She’s confused and distressed by her predicament, and there’s a caveman hauling her back to his cavehome. She’s not at all interested in Ehd’s primitive advances, and she just can’t seem to get him to listen. No matter what she tries, getting her point across to this primitive, but beautiful, man is a constant – and often hilarious – struggle.

Transcendence is like nothing that has ever come before it, told in a completely new manner that works so well on many different levels it’s no wonder this book has been a hit since it was published earlier this year. What would it be like to be forced by circumstances to live and fall in love with someone who is never going to fully understand or be able to communicate with you? Shay Savage’s writing is truly beautiful with this story told solely from the point of view of Ehd a caveman. This heartwarming tale could have very easily been “me get food, me make fire” but it was so much more that. Ehd still had a definite caveman vibe; he’s all about protecting Elizabeth or Beh as Ehd calls her and of course starting a new tribe with making babies but he’s so caring and completely accepts all the things about Beh that he doesn’t understand and has no ability to comprehend.

I wasn’t sure when purchasing this how I’d feel about it, historical fiction is something I really love but a book involving cavemen is not something I’ve ever experienced before and holy heck I’m glad I did by it. Usually a books dialogue is what really hits the nail on the head and makes all the emotional connections but with its total of maybe 10 single line moments of dialogue all up Transcendence didn’t need it or left a feeling lacking due to the minimal amount. I think this is the best example of how great Savage’s writing is it very easy to miss something you are use to but that’s not the case in this at all.

With very few side characters for eighty-five percent of the book it was very interesting to see Edh’s full attention on Beh and get to know her and how she thinks through his limited point of view, that’s not to say that Ehd isn’t intelligent he just knows what he knows and not much else. I found it really interesting to see that even though Beh could not talk to Edh she continued to make noises as he calls speech through out the whole book.  Their communication is limited to showing each other things and a few words that Edh links to actions but doesn’t really understand.

This is a very difficult book to explain and do justice to. It would have been a five star read if not for the heavy focus on sex, which made me uncomfortable at times. Edh didn’t understand the concept of no at first, even though it did fit his characteristics of following the baser instincts to make children and what not, it just really wasn’t my thing. This was a great read and I will definitely be picking up Savage’s other novels as I’ve fallen in love with her writing.

Have you read this or is it on your TBR? Do you like the caveman idea?