Monday, 4 June 2012

Review: House of Night

House of Night #1 (House of Night: The Graphic Novel, #1)
House of Night by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Publish Date: 4th July 2012
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Page Count: 132
Synopsis:  The magical world of New York Times best-selling authors P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast comes to comics! Until recently, Zoey Redbird was an average high-school student worrying about grades, boys, and breakouts. But priorities have a way of changing when you are Marked as a vampyre, enroll in the vampyre academy House of Night, and have to figure out a whole new social hierarchy, affinities for elemental magic, and physiological changes that make you crave blood. 
Review: I received this for review from NetGalley and I guess I jumped the gun a little, I requested it because I really wanted to read the series but knew that I wouldn't be able to get my hands on it any time soon and figured this would be a good substitute. Well turns out someone actually gifted me the series this month, well the first 8 which is a lot of books, and after finishing reading this I realised I've probably read a bunch of spoilers.
So now to my proper review, obviously as I haven't read anything else to do with this series it was interesting to see this different take on vampyre's, for starters they end up being marked and it takes a long time for the transition from fledgling to full blown vamp to be completed but could also end up rejecting the transition and dying at any time. With this being a graphic novel there is a lack of explanation into how the marking takes place or happens, there are a few hints here and there but not full detail into the process, you also get to see what happens when the transition fails which is pretty brutal. I liked the layout of the storyline too, how they visited each of the affinities individually so we get to meet some pretty big names in history and their alternate-vampyre related history. I do believe that when the story transfers to each of the history/affinity lessons are the more interesting parts but that isn't too hard to believe because they are long and obviously I have no connection to the characters. I think a downside to this graphic novel is that it's not 100% sure of its target audience, when the story is following Zoey and her friends I could easily believe its for a younger audience but some of the topics that are touched upon in the history sections are darker, brutal and graphic which could illustrate an older target audience, or at least one a little more maturer than the previous suggests and this led me to being a little confused at times, especially when some of the more darker things that happened were simply glossed over. Maybe I'm just picky? Maybe I can't judge properly without reading the series, who knows? One thing is for sure it got me desperate to pick up the main series a lot sooner than planned but I think I'll only continue with the graphic novel series if I adore the series with all my heart. It was a good read but I think I could appreciate it more with background knowledge.
Recommend? I'd say read the series first.
Amazon: UK | US
P.C. Cast: GR | Website | Facebook | Blog
Kristin Cast: GR | Website

Sunday, 3 June 2012

Bought, Borrowed & Bagged (5)


Bought, Borrowed and Bagged is a weekly event hosted by Talk Supe where you can share the books you have bought, borrowed or bagged (won) plus a recap of the previous week's reviews, upcoming reviews and on going events. 







Divergent (Divergent #1)Bought (paperback): 
Divergent by Veronica Roth  
Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances.
GR 
Amazon: UK | US 




Bagged (Received for review/eCopy): 
Mutt by Evan FullerMutt
Amazon: UK | US

Bagged (Netgalley):Dark Kiss (Nightwatchers, #1)Pushing the LimitsThe Goddess Legacy (Goddess Test, #2.5)
Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen
I don't do dangerous.  Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back. Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me....
Amazon: UK | US

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked. "An edgy romance that pulls you in and never lets go. I was hooked!"-Gena Showalter,  New York Times bestselling author of the Intertwined series. So wrong for each other...and yet so right. No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.  Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
Amazon: UK | US

The Goddess Legacy by Aimee Carter 
For millennia we've caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aimé e Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows. Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness... Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal... Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another... James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others-but never knew true loss before... Henry/Hades's solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope... Five original novellas of love, loss and longing and the will to survive throughout the ages.
Amazon: UK | US

River Run by Deirdre Black
All Freya can remember is her sister, the basement, and the Man Upstairs. She has no memory of the world outside or of being warm or of not feeling hungry. And now her sister is gone. An unlikely ally shows her how to break out of the basement, but on the frozen banks of the Mississippi, Freya quickly discovers things worse than the Man Upstairs. Freya is lucky to find Finn. He has a canoe, some supplies, and a vague idea about a place down south called Norlins. If they can dodge the slavers and avoid starving to death, the two of them might just have a shot at survival.
Amazon: UK | US

Bagged (Won):Beautiful Disaster
About Last Night
Witchful Thinking (Jolie Wilkins, #3)
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire (eCopy)
Thank you Victoria
The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand. Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.
Amazon: UK | US

About Last Night Ruthie Knox (eCopy)
Thank you Susan
Sure, opposites attract, but in this sexy, smart, eBook original romance from Ruthie Knox, they positively combust! When a buttoned-up banker falls for a bad girl, “about last night” is just the beginning. Cath Talarico knows a mistake when she makes it, and God knows she’s made her share. So many, in fact, that this Chicago girl knows London is her last, best shot at starting over. But bad habits are hard to break, and soon Cath finds herself back where she has vowed never to go . . . in the bed of a man who is all kinds of wrong: too rich, too classy, too uptight for a free-spirited troublemaker like her. Nev Chamberlain feels trapped and miserable in his family’s banking empire. But beneath his pinstripes is an artist and bohemian struggling to break free and lose control. Mary Catherine—even her name turns him on—with her tattoos, her secrets, and her gamine, sex-starved body, unleashes all kinds of fantasies. When blue blood mixes with bad blood, can a couple that is definitely wrong for each other ever be perfectly right? And with a little luck and a lot of love, can they make last night last a lifetime?

Witchful Thinking by Jolie Wilkins (paperback)
Thank you Susan
Jolie thinks she’s seen it all, but life continues to spring surprises. The latest shocker? She’s just been crowned queen of the underworld. Jolie may possess a rare gift for reanimating the dead, but she doesn’t know the first thing about governing disparate factions of supernatural creatures. She can barely maintain order in her own chaotic personal life, which is heading into a romantic tailspin. First there’s sexy warlock Rand, the love of her life, from whom Jolie is hiding a devastating secret. Then there’s Sinjin, a darkly seductive vampire and Jolie’s sworn protector—though others suspect he harbors ulterior motives. As the two polar opposite yet magnetic men vie for Jolie’s affection, she must keep her wits about her to balance affairs of state and affairs of her heart. Overwhelmed, under pressure, and longing for love, Jolie decides it’s time to take charge—and show everyone that this queen won’t take jack.
Amazon: UK | US

Bagged (Gifted/eBook):
House of Night Series Book 1 - 8

Thank you so much Kim

The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.  In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire -- that is, if she makes it through the Change.  Not all of those who are chosen do.  It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling.  She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.  But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers.  When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.
Amazon: UK | US 
Posted during this week:
Musing Mondays (1)
Wishlist Wednesday (1)
Review: A Blood Seduction
May Wrap Up
Follow Friday (10)
Once Upon A Readathon

Books Read This Week:
Dragon Age: The Silent Grove by David Gaider (review next month)
Divergent
House of Night by P.C Cast (Graphic Novel) 


What to expect next week?
My YouTube channel will start posting next week, you know the collab one I set up over the last few weeks, I hope you all stop by Fanatical About Fiction! I'll provide the links now even though its bare so you can be the first to know when something is uploaded!
YouTube
Twitter


Also I'm being featured at The Book on the Hill today so go check it out!

Saturday, 2 June 2012

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon

Once Upon a Read-a-ThonOnce Upon a Read-a-Thon is being held for the third year running and I've decided to take part this time. It is running from July 9th (12:01am) - 11th (11:59pm) and is hosted by Angel at Reading Angel, Lori at Pure Imagination and Candace at Candace's Book Blog.

If you want to sign up click one of the above links as the linky is the same on each post! 

At the end of June I'll be posting about this giveaway again where I will decide on how many and what I wish to read, its far too early to decide now!

Friday, 1 June 2012

Follow Friday (10)

FF 2012 Feature & Follow #99
Q. You are a matchmaker - your goal, hook up two characters from two of your favourite books. Who would it be? How do you think it would go?

Okay, not going to lie here but I'm not picking my favourite books because when I read the question a couple jumped out at me and I'm running with that idea.
I've chosen Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries) and Bella Swan (Twilight). The reason behind this is because they're both ridiculously alike, they're both obsessed with Vampires and both make decisions that are terribly bad and leave only disaster - whether it be large or small - in their paths. Their love for their Vamp(s) often gets in the way of real life and causing them to become boring and repetitive people. So why pair up people who like Vamps with another human? Simple, they need a change and a break from their unusual adventures and it'll probably do them good to be in the company of another female who understands the things they've had to deal with and end up having a good whine and great time.

Note: I haven't actually read any of The Vampire Diaries so most of this is going off the television show - I tried to start the first book but she had blonde hair and no brother. It was odd. I'll pick it up one day.