Book Shelf: Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1) by Laini Taylor

Featuring necklaces made of wishes; an underground shop dealing in teeth; magical tattoos; a wishbone on a cord, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE is a thrilling story about Karou and her secret life as an apprentice to a wishmonger. Karou manages to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she is a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to an inhuman creature who deals in wishes and is the closest thing she has to family. Her life is surrounded by mysteries she is desperate to unveil.

Blurb from Goodreads.....


Review:

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well.....

Wow. Let me just say....wow! I’m not sure I have the words to truly do this book justice......
This book sure has being getting its fair share of raving reviews and I admit I certainly had high expectations of what I was gonna get, but let me say....I have never, ever read anything like this before. This book is one of a kind....totally, completely. Laini Taylor takes the story of angels and demons and takes it in a direction that’s never been told; creating a world that is so uniquely it’s own, you simply can’t compare it to anything else. There is nothing like this out there. These kinds of books are a rarity; a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

This book is pure magic. Plain and simple. The writing is magic in and of itself and Taylor weaves together a story filled with wonder and mystery. The words seem to dance and float off the pages and from the very first chapter you’re caught. As you follow Karou on her journey, you never know what to expect. Most of the story is seem through her eyes and you only know what she knows. Even I admit I thought I knew what was going on. There was a moment I thought, “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen this kind of thing before. I know what it means and how it will end.” However, I.....Was....Wrong! One thing I learnt pretty quickly, is that you can never assume with this book, because I can almost guarantee you.....you will be wrong. Laini Taylor will surprise you every time and the outcome and end result will be so far from what you were expecting that you just won’t know what to think.

I don’t want to give too much away, because honestly this is the kind of book you really need to read for yourself to fully comprehend what I’m saying, but the creatures in this story aren’t your run off the mill. They’re quirky and different and harsh and beautiful. Lord, I can’t say it enough. There’s nothing out there like this. Not the world, not the myth, not the characters and people who call it home. Think you know angels and demons? Eerrk...wrong answer! These “angels and demons” are from a completely different world and you be entranced by them.

I adored Karou and you will too. She’s so quirky and witty. She’s an intelligent young woman in the middle of a very mixed up world, one who really doesn’t know who and what she is. And yet she does, she really does. Karou is searching for the key to her past and who she is, but she has such a strong sense of self. She knows what she feels and she feels it. She loves Brimstone and Issa and everyone else in her “family”. She loves her best friend Zuzanna and is always there for her. She knows she’s in the middle of a war between those she loves and those who wish to do them harm. She hears the stories being told to her, but she knows the people—ahhh, creatures, in her life and how they truly are. She knows she feels something for Akvia and knows it makes no sense....but it’s there and it means something.
Karou is brave and not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and boy could this girl handle her known. Hell, she goes ninja on an angel twice her size and is waaay more trained than she is. And she wins! Trust me this girl will intrigue you with her strength and mystery and win you over with her flaws and vulnerabilities.

And as for Akiva....let me just swoon for a little bit and then I’ll get back to the review. At first, I kind of thought I was going to get your typical angel, but Laini Taylor does it again and he’s nothing like what I expected. He’s so damaged and haunted, which on the surface may not seem so different, but when you look closer and read more of the book, you see him for what he is. Akiva was the character that drew the most emotion from me. Really, he’s been through the most and as we see both his past and witness his present, his grief and his anguish really sweeps through within the story. It’s impossible not to feel for him in his moments of complete devastation and helplessness. Honestly, I found myself sharing Karou feelings a lot during this book; I simply wanted to see him smile.

For everything it is, I can’t see this book being rivalled. I may have said it already, but you can’t compare this book to most out there. It simply cannot be done. Even the ending will leave you wanting to bang your head against the wall or cry because it’s over. Or both, either way it works. The ending simply leaves you shell shocked and wondering how the hell Taylor can end it like that. Doesn’t she realise that the wait for the sequel might possibly kill us? Trust me, this ending is one you won’t see coming, not after all Karou and Akiva have been through together already.....

And on a final note, I’m kinda annoyed right now too, because if you’re reading my review then you’re not reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone and you should really, REALLY should be reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I don’t want to sound rash, but you need to be reading this book. Go buy a copy, like right now! Don’t have the money? Well, I may point out that you have two kidneys and you only need one of those—so go sell your spare and get the book.
Haha. Kidding! Maybe. Really, I’m not quite sure. This book deserves everyone of it's 5 stars and I CANNOT wait for more!

Rating:
Source: I bought
Format: Paperback
Recommend: YES!!!!!
Recommend borrow or buy: BUY-go, go, go!
Cover: I admit I love the US one more (gotta love the blue mask) but this one is all shiny and foiled finish.
Read sequel/continue with series: Ah, dumb question? Yes......

Buy it here:

YOU GIVE= WE GIVE Progress Update #2

Date: 08/10/2011

Progress Thoughts:
I continue to be touched by the generosity shown as part of You Give= We Give. Jess, Brodie and I are so excited to be able to help bring some Christmas joy to those less fortunate this year, but there's no way we would be able to do that without all the incredible donations we've had. I can't thank you enough for opening your hearts and wanting to contribute!

Picture Evidence:



The top row are all books donated by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and Harper Collins Australia who sent 2 copies of A Need So Beautiful-thank-you so very much. The second row are all books we were able to purchase with the money collected in the pay-pal account. We will be emptying it every month and using it's contents to purchase more books. There are more to come; these are just the ones that arrived this week.


These books were actually donated by my mum =D She loves the idea and wanted to contribute. I love you mum--you rock!
Also a big thanks goes to author Simon Hayes who donated a signed copy of his novel Hal Junior: The Secret Signal.


Here were have all the books I donated so far. I'll probably add a few more as I get them, but for now here's what I have.

Total:



Future Hopes:
Well it goes without saying that I'd love to collect as many books as possible this year to touch the lives of those who many otherwise go without, but I also hope that everyone can feel the satisfaction and pride I know I'm feeling when I see how what it is that we're doing for a nothing human being!

Links to each of our Blogs:



Jess @ She Known As Jess BlogSpot
Brodie @ Eleusinian Mysteries
Rachel @ The Rest Is Still Unwritten

Thank you Note:
A HUGE thank you to every single author and publisher who donated novels toward both our prize packs and the Christmas tree. You guys are amazing and we cannot thank you enough for your generosity and kindness!

And....

A HUGE thank you to every single blogger, reader and anyone who has donated novels toward our Christmas tree piles. You guys are amazing and we cannot thank you enough for your generosity and kindness!


You Give = We Give.

Would you like to make someone’s life a little brighter this Christmas? Then be sure to check out our event You Give = We Give, for not only the chance to give but also the chance to WIN amazing Prize Packs yourself!




Donating Options:
You Give = We Give will run from September 10th until December 15. During the event you can either:

- PayPal = Big or Small – Every Dollar Counts!

- Donate through PayPal - We all have a donate button on our blogs.

- Buy a book from an online bookstore and have it sent to us.
Book Depository / Amazon / An Online Store

- Personally send us any extra books you have laying around .

Sending a novel through an online store or personally; email us for an address to send them too.


YouGive_WeGive (AT) hotmail (DOT) com

YOU GIVE = WE GIVE PROGRESS UPDATE.

Guest Post: Writing A Female Lead with Tim O'Rourke and Giveaway!

Today I have the amazing author Tim O'Rourke with me once again on the blog. Tim is the author of The Kiera Husdon books, among other various YA titles and today he's going to talk about what it's like writing a female lead. Be sure to check out the giveaway at the end of the post where one winner will receive Tim's ENTIRE back list......




Writing A Female Lead

Since publishing my books earlier this year a couple of things have changed. The first is that it’s great to be able to share my stories, characters and ideas with others, and secondly the emails I receive from those who felt passionately enough about my work to send me an email or two.

The one question I thought that I would be asked the most is “where do you get your ideas?” and I had a whole bunch of answers lined up! But oddly enough, I have only been asked that question once or twice. The question I get asked the most is, “you’re a guy, right? So how do you write such convincing female characters?” and to be honest, I usually respond by saying, “you know, I haven’t really given it a great deal of thought.” Most of these questions are aimed at my character Kiera Hudson from my two books ‘Vampire Shift’ and ‘Vampire Wake’. So seeing as this question crops-up the most, I’ve spent sometime honestly thinking about it and this I guess is my answer to that question:

Kiera Hudson came about by chance really. It had been suggested to me that I write a vampire book. I was a little reluctant at first because I thought that everything there was to say about the subject had been done. But the pressure mounted, so I relented but on the condition that I could make it different. First off, I wanted my female lead (Kiera) to be different from other female characters that I’d read in this genre. I wanted her to be strong, determined but most of all her own person. Sure Kiera would fall in love, but it had to be on equal terms. She had to have her own life, job, car and apartment. I didn’t want her to be reliant on anyone. So I came up with Kiera, who was twenty-years-old, was fresh out of police academy, drove around in a beat-up old 60’s mini and had her own apartment – and had a passion for music. But I still wanted more for her – I wanted her to be smart and a rival to some of the more experienced officers in the male dominated work environment that she was going into. So I gave Kiera the ability to see things. This wasn’t initially a supernatural ability – but she saw things because she was clever, observes and noticed things that others failed to see. This made her very sharp at working out what had taken place at a crime scene, but she could do more than that – Kiera has the ability of figuring you out simply by seeing what you are wearing, eating and who you are dating.

So I never really sat down and made a conscious effort to make her female and I think if I’d done that, then I would have given her all the traits that me as a male writer thought she should have had – and if I’d done that, I would’ve probably made a right mess of it. I just made Kiera a well rounded person and I think that was the trick – I thought of her as a person instead of male/female. I hope that makes sense. Kiera doesn’t look physically strong as I don’t feel that she had to be masculine looking to match her rivals. I wanted her to solve the problems that she comes across in the books with her wits.

There is plenty of romance in the books, especially book two ‘Vampire Wake’ and somebody said on a blog somewhere that for a guy, I write ‘swoon’ really well. I don’t know if ‘swoon’ is different for men and women, but to be honest when I write about Kiera, I pretty much think about how I feel when in love or think back to those feelings I had when first meeting that person I was attracted to. Again, I didn’t write Kiera’s feelings by sitting in front of my laptop and saying to myself, “now if I was a girl, how would I be feeling right now – seeing this gorgeous hunk for the first time?” I just wrote about the feelings I’ve had in the past and have now. I did some honest soul searching and just wrote those feelings down. And I think being honest is important too – because the reader will know if you are trying to kid them and they won’t forgive you for it.

Male or female, we all have our hopes, dreams, insecurities and a broken heart or two – so I just tried to encapsulate some of those feelings that I’d experienced into some of the situations Kiera found herself in.

So if I’m to answer the original question honestly, when I write Kiera Hudson, I try and put aside the whole female/male thing and think of her more as a person, who has her own worries, fears, insecurities and dreams. Because after all, we all experience those emotions at one time or another, right?

(Tim O’Rourke)


Find Tim on:
~Goodreads
~Twitter
~Facebook
~His website

Add Vampire Shift, the first book in The Keira Hudson Trilogy on Goodreads.

And while you're here, feel free to check out my reviews of Vampire Shift and Vampire Wake and my interview with Tim.


Giveaway:

As I mentioned earlier, in celebration of the release of Vampire Wake, the 2nd Kiera Hudson book, Tim has very generously offered ONE of my followers ecopies of his ENTIRE back list! One winner will receive the brilliant Vampire Shift and Vampire Wake as well as both Tim's Black Hill Farm books, Black Hill Farm and Black Hill Farm: Andy's Diary and his YA thriller Doorways in ebook format.

Details:
~You MUST be a follower to enter.
~Simply leave a comment on the post with a way to reach you.
~Open to EVERYONE!
~The giveaway will run from October 7th (today) until November 7th, after which a winner will be chosen using random.org
~Once I've emailed the winner, they will then have 48 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.

Extra Entries:
You're welcome to earn extra entries by....
+1 Adding any of Tim's books on Goodreads here.
+1 Tweeting about the giveaway
and
+1 Following Tim on Twitter

Please leave all links in your comment.

And while you're here, check out the trailer for Vampire Shift:



I'd like to thank Tim O'Rourke for stopping by the blog and offering us this awesome post annd giveaway.

Be sure to check out Tim's books and good luck to everyone who enters the giveaway!

Favourite Quote Friday #10

Welcome to Favourite Quote Friday. Here is where I share with you two of my fave book quotes each week, one from a YA and one from an adult book. If anyone wishes to participate, leaving your quotes or links to your quotes in the comments section!

Here we go....

YA:
“No,” he agreed. “You’re not. She never caused me this agony.”
What could I say to that? The way he was looking at me was making my head feel funny. Was making me feel funny and not just in that oh God I just almost died way.
Christophe leaned in. His mouth was a mere centimetres from me. “She never made me think I would die of heart failure. She never, never made me fear for her this way.”
~Christophe and Dru, Jealousy by Lili St. Crow

Adult:
"If this is one of your tricks..." Like the time Torin had ordered hundreds of blow-up dolls and placed them throughout the fortress, all because Paris had foolishly complained about the lack of female companionship in town. The plastic "ladies" had stared our from every corner, their wide eyes and let-me-suck-you mouths taunting everyone who passed them.
Things like that happened when Torin was bored.”
~Maddox, The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter

More next week....

Book Shelf: Forbidden (The Demon Trappers #2) by Jana Oliver

Riley's beginning to think being a demon trapper isn't all it's cracked up to be. Her dad's been stolen by a necromancer, her boyfriend's gone all weird and she's getting warm and fuzzy feelings for someone who's seriously bad news. It's tempting to give it all up and try to be normal, but that's not an option. Because the demons have plans for Riley. And they're not the only ones.

Blurb from Goodreads....


Review:

Gee, Jana Oliver sure knows how to write ‘em! I admit I’ve been a mixture of emotions and uncertainties since beginning Forbidden. There were so many things I loved about it, but unfortunately a few things I disliked as well.
First off, this series still remains an exciting joyride; complete with action and romance and a storyline that just keeps getting better with the turn of each page. Oliver continued to build on her world with this book and as the storyline evolves it sucks you in deeper. The world is so rich and I truly love it. There’s a darkness to it, a raw intensity that bleeds through the pages and captivates you. The world of demon trappers is like nothing I’ve read before and I love getting lost in it with each book in the series.

As I mentioned there were a few things I disliked and a lot of that comes back to Riley and the choices she made. Oh, this girl.... I can’t deny that Riley is a strong female lead. In the world she lives in she stands out for her strength and her ability to continue on when I think others would have long given up, but during the course of this book she made so many bad choices. Some that I really think were unnecessary. And the problem is....I really like this girl. Riley is such a strong person that it’s hard reading a book and seeing her do the things that she does. I’d just love to give her a shake and set her straight. And yet at the same time, she continues to surprise me. Some of the things she did (not giving way any spoilers) took great courage and strength; she just needs to stop trusting the wrong people. Especially when the best thing she has is right in front of her eyes.....

Seriously, I just broke for Beck in this book. He won me over in Forsaken, but this book just cemented why he’s such a great character in my eyes. He lays himself bare in so many moments during this book and, while I admit his execution isn’t perfect, he generally wants to do right by Riley and keep his promise to Paul. He many have his flaws but Denver Beck continues to be one of my favourite male leads in fiction right now. He truly breaks the mould set by most leading men and it’s such a breath of fresh air to read about him. He just keeps getting kicked when he’s down and I really feel for him. He’s trying to be strong and protect Riley, while dealing with the conflicting feelings he has for her and trying to fill the void left by the loss of trappers from the first book.

Riley and Beck make me want to bang my head against a wall at times, they really do. They’re both so different, and yet they’re not. I think if they both let each other in, a lot of their problems would be solved. They assume so much of the other at times and they’re usually wrong. I loved the moments when they’re not at one another’s throats and they actually get along; Beck lets Riley in in a way he hasn’t anyone else and Riley relies on and trusts Beck in a way she doesn’t anyone else either—even if she can’t quite see that. Even though they don’t realise it, I think they both need each other and I’m looking forward to see if Jana Oliver can solve some of their problems in the next book.

I admit I was shocked with Simon and Peter in this book; both have done one eighties from the last time we saw them, one in a good way and one in a not so good way. I was happy with Peter’s change, although it seemed sudden at first and as for Simon...pffft! Honestly, Riley doesn’t need him. I wasn’t surprised by the revelations about Ori at all. He completely lived up to my expectations, although I found some of the twists concerning him to be pretty interesting and I do wonder if they’ll have an impact on future storylines.

The ending of this book blew me away and had a few, “Whoa, no way,” moments. Riley’s world continues to get turned upside down and with these hunters in the picture now, I have a feeling this series is just getting started. I’m really excited with the ending and with everything that happens in the end, I’m just about ready to sell my soul if it’ll get me Forgiven sooner!

Rating:
Source: Sent by Pan Macmillan Australia (Thank-you Charlotte!)
Format: Paperback
AU Release Date: Available now
Expected AU Price: $16.99
Recommend: Yes!
Recommend borrow or buy: Buy
Cover: I love the covers in this series--they're awesome!
Read sequel/continue with series: Yes!

Cover Lust

This weeks Cover Lust is:


Exiled by RaShelle Workman.....


Stubborn, sixteen-year-old Princess Venus of Kelari wants one thing, to become immortal, that is, until someone exiles her to Earth, kills her irrihunter and takes her family.

Now she wants revenge.

First she’s got to get home. But before she can return to Kelari, the Gods have commanded her to help an arrogant boy named Michael find his soul mate.

Only she doesn't know the first thing about love.

Rather quickly, her inexperience with human emotion is obscured by other matters—alien-controlled psychotic teens that are out to kill her, and a government group that is set on capturing and dissecting her.

Worst of all, Venus will suffer a painful death-by-poisoning, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere, if she remains on the planet longer than one week.

Still, Venus is a Princess and she's got a plan. Surely, with her help, Michael will fall in love with a human.

But time is running out and Michael is falling for the wrong girl—her.

Thoughts:
I just love the way all the colours in this cover go together. The lighting hits the cover model perfectly and the butterflys are very pretty. Stunning!

Waiting on Wednesday #6

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.



Fracture by Megan Miranda
Released on: January 3rd 2012
Add it: On Goodreads.

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine despite the scans that showed significant brain damage.

Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she's far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can't control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she's reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

Thoughts:
This book sounds exceptionally good. It looks like one that'll keep you guessing the entire way through and I for one am looking forward to diving into it.