Review | Numbers by Rachel Ward + giveaway

Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today's number. Today's date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem's world is about to explode!

Thoughts: So far I've seen many "Eh it was okay" sort of reviews for this book and I must say I completely disagree! I must the only sane one (or crazy one, haha) out there. I really enjoyed this one, and although there are quite a few other reviewers out there who disagree, I completely respect everyone's opinion. I must say though, that I could not put this book down.

From the start, I was intruiged by Jem, she was an interesting and isolated character that I couldn't help but like her. She reminded me a bit about me, and maybe that is why I was able to like it from the beginning. Not only did I like her, but I liked Spider too, as weird as he was. The other characters in the book were also well written and described in my opinion, and although I didn't like them all, I was able to connect with the story better because of each one.

Now, my favorite part of the book was the actual "power" I guess we could call it, or "curse", that Jem had. I would be terrified to be able to see the date of people's death's and like her I would isolate myself from the world. It starts off a bit slow, but I didn't think it was bad, more of an introduction to the book and then the pace picks up and its twists and turns from then on. The ending, I thought, was fantastic. Just like I like them, with something you weren't expecting.

And there you have it. I thought it was great. I also wanted to point out that the book reminded me of the music video of "Savin Me" by Nickleback. Here it is for your viewing pleasure :)





Favorite Line: "He was ready to go. We could dive off there together. His number would be right, after all, and I’d join mine with his."

I've been promising a few giveaways for the last few weeks, and since I really enjoyed this book, I want to give another reader a chance to try out and see how they like it. So, enter for a chance to win your own copy of Numbers. Form here :)

 

This book was provided by Around the World Tours.

blogoversary :)

Actually, my blogs day was a few days ago and I missed it! It has been a whole year since I started this blog and I'm happy I've been able to keep it this long. It has been great :)

Review | Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

In this terrifying and hilarious prequel, we witness the genesis of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth-century England. We watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. We laugh as she begins her first clumsy training with nunchucks and katana swords and cry when her first blush with romance goes tragically awry. Written by acclaimed novelist (and Edgar Award nominee) Steve Hockensmith, Dawn of the Dreadfuls invites Austen fans to step back into Regency England, Land of the Undead!

Thoughts: When I read the first PP&Z, I was really excited because it had both zombies and Austen and I thought, "What a fantastic combination!" Wrong. I was a bit hesitant to get SS&SM, but that one was a bit better. Barely. So I was definitely unsure about D of D and really was not going to accept a copy. I thought it over quite a bit and then decided to give it a try.

I was surprised to find this one to be better than the last two. Sure, it's still based on Austen's original work, Pride and Prejudice, but Hockensmith created a whole different plot. It was so much better than the last two attempts to recreate Austen's work and although the author kept the same characters, the story was something new and unique.

I have always like Elizabeth Bennet, and watching her learn and struggle in her attempt to slay zombies was quite humorous. Most of the original characters were present or mentioned, but a whole new cast of characters were introduced that made this book stand out more than the other two. The differences in this book from the original P&P made it a lot better and I was able to enjoy it as a standalone.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's been curious about these monster books, and still hasn't given them a chance. I suggest you try this one first and then maybe give the other two a shot, although I do not think they're very good. I'm sure anyone who enjoyed PP&Z and SS&SM will also enjoy this one as well.

This book was provided by the publisher for review.

Weekly Recap (04.12-04.18)

I've been meaning to take a break, and maybe after this week I will. There are a few ARC's I got for review that I want to post about before I take one. I've had obviously some slow weeks and this one was no exception.

Here's what I got:

+ Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen [bought from store]

This is what I read:
+ Legacy of a False Promise: A Daughter's Reckoning by Margaret Fuchs Singer
+ Island Sting by Bonnie J. Doerr

This is what I plan to finish reading:
+ The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn
+ The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Books I reviewed:
+ As Simple As It Seems by Sarah Weeks (review)
+ Sea Change by Aimee Friedman (review)
+ Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (review)
+ A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (review)

So I'm going to have a few more reviews this week and maybe one or two giveaways before I take my break. Happy reading everyone :)

Review | Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink && A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I haven't done one of these quick reviews in a really long time. I decided to put these two together for a few reasons: 1) I didn't like them as much as I thought I would & rated them the same; 2) I thought they were very similar and 3) I have other books I want to review and this is faster.

An ancient prophecy divides two sisters-
One good…
One evil…
Who will prevail?
Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents’ deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.
Lia and Alice don’t know whom they can trust.
They just know they can’t trust each other.

Thoughts: I've heard many great things about this book and I liked it too, sort of. For some reason the story seemed too short and lacking some explanations. I know that it's a trilogy or something and that more will be explained later on, but I really wanted to know more. I really thought the characters were great and I liked them.
So was it just me, or is anyone else confused on the whole Gate and Guardian thing? I was pretty lost on what the heck the story meant and such, but then, I hope it all gets clarified later.

Favorite Line: "I recall his somber eyes during that last, private conversation. His eyes and his words, far too wise for a boy of ten: only time will tell, Lia. In the end, I suppose it will."

Gemma, 16, has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order.

Thoughts: I tried reading this one before and I really couldn't get into it much. So I decided to give it a try in audio and it really caught my attention more when I was listening to it. I thought the whole plot was intriguing and I was interested in the story, but I had a problem with the characters and didn't like them too much. I wasn't too happy with the ending either, but this one is also a trilogy(?) and I need to read the next few books to find out what happens next.

Favorite Line: "...and I'm an oddity of one. My strangeness too complicated to explain or share."

These books were provided by the local library.

Recommend Me (2)

Recommend Me is a new weekly event hosted by The Neverending Shelf, in which participants will pick one of their all time favorite reads to share. This could be a book that your read yesterday or years ago.
To play along, head on over to The Neverending Shelf.

I haven't done this in a while, but I decided my blog needs a little change so I decided to do this meme and maybe a few others every once in a while. So here goes:

How the Light Gets In by M.J. Hyland

Lou Connor, a precocious, gifted, and unhappy sixteen-year-old, is offered a place as an exchange student in the United States, something that she hopes will take her far away from her bleak life of poverty in Sydney, Australia. Having endured a childhood with an emotionally crass, deadbeat family, she welcomes the opportunity to live the middle-class life she has long dreamed of. But soon after she moves in with her host family, the Hardings - who live in a prefabricated mansion in a nameless Chicago suburb - Lou's acute need for acceptance and love runs up against the Hardings' suffocating pursuit of a particular form of suburban perfection.

The first thing that caught my eye when I saw this on my friend's shelf was the cover. I love the color of her lipstick even though I never wear it and I hate red. I especially like that her whole face isn't showing. I ended up borrowing, and keeping it.

I recommend this book because its so different, really. I have never read another book like this and it reminds me of those weird movies you sometimes watch and you really have no idea what's going on but they're interesting anyways. You know what I mean? This book is like that.

Review | Sea Change by Aimee Friedman

16-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science...and not so great with boys. After major drama with her boyfriend and (now ex) best friend, she's happy to spend the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.

There, Miranda finds new friends and an island with a mysterious, mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, friendship...and reality.

Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

Thoughts: To be honest, I was expecting more from this book. I think that from the beginning I knew I wouldn't really enjoy it as much as I had originally hoped, but I decided to give a chance anyways.

I think the problem I had with the whole book were the chracters. To me they seemed sort of bleh, kind of boring, and I really didn't like anyones' "personality." Miranda was okay I guess, although I didn't connect with her. I think maybe the characters could've used a bit more depth and development.

I really liked the idea of merpeople and I expected the story to have more than what it did, and I thought it would have been great as a mystery. It all seemed to fall flat a bit though, and I really wasn't happy with the ending.

I would suggest others to give it a try because I know there are many people out there who loved this book. I thought it was okay, not really great, but not a complete waste of my time. So I would recommend this to YA lovers of all ages.

Favorite Line: "It struck me then how much the past - not just the past but history and family - was like the ocean tide. It was always the same ocean, but the waves made it fresh and new each time."

This book was provided by the local library.

Review | As Simple As It Seems by Sarah Weeks

Verbena Colter knows that she's bad news.Trouble from the get-go. How could she not be, with parents like hers? But Verbie doesn't want to be mean. She wishes she could be somebody else, anybody other than who she is. Enter Pooch, a flatlander boy visiting for the summer. When Pooch and his mom rent the house next door, Verbie takes the opportunity to be someone else entirely. And what starts out as a game leads Verbie into a surprising and heartwarming journey of self-discovery.

Thoughts: As Simple as it Seems is a really short and sweet sort of book that is directed more towards middle grade readers. It is usually not the kind of book I would read, but the synopsis caught my eye so I signed up for it.

Although it was quite enjoyable, I really had expected a more developed story than the one that it was. I was also unaware that the protagonist was so young, a fifth grader, and I think maybe I would have liked it better if she would have been a bit older.

I liked the authors writing, and I haven’t read any of her other books but I might pick anotherr one up to give her another try. I was a little disappointed that the story was so short though, and there wasn’t much going on to keep me really “into it” for long. I did read it quickly because of the shortness, but also because I had a time limit on it.

I would recommend this to younger readers and anyone who enjoys middle grade books. This is a quick and fun read that might be enjoyed by others.

This book was provided by Around the World Tours.

Weekly Recap (4.05-4.11)

Hello blogging friends. So, I've been pretty busy with work and life. I haven't really had much time for blogging as you can tell, and I am also working on the look of my blog, as you might also be able to tell. I have some great ideas on what I want it to look like now, but getting it together has been tough with my busy schedule. I've also been slow on my reading, but I was able to catch up on a few short books this weekend and that made me happy. I should have several posts this week, as well as that followers giveaway I've been promising. I also have another cool giveaway lined up, and hopefully I can get to it this week. Seriously, I'm not joking :)

Anyways, I had another slow week in the receiving books end, which is sort of good because I want to catch up on the ones I have piling up.

Here's what I got this week:

+ Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld [bought from store]
+ Island Sting by Bonnie J. Doerr [ARC from tour]

I read:
+ Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld
+ Zan-Gah: A Prehestoric Adventure by Allan Richard Shickman
+ Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country by Allan Richard Shickman
+ Morpheus Road: The Light by D.J. MacHale

I reviewed:
Nothing!

So another slow week for me, I'll do better for this one, I hope!

Top Commenter Monthly Giveaway: Up for Grabs in April

I've been giving away mostly YA for the TCMG, and I have finally decided to change that for this month. This month's giveaway is international also :) If you have no idea what the Top Commenter Monthly Giveaway is, click here for more info.

Changeless

Alexia Tarabotti, now Lady Maccon, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria. But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her into the backwaters of ugly waistcoats, Scotland, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only A soulless can. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

Remember, to be eligible to win you must be on the Top 3 Commenters.

Thanks for participating :) I will be announcing the winner on the last weekend of March.

Again, if you have any questions, feel free to leave it in a comment or email me at oodlesofbooks@yahoo.com.

Weekly Recap (03.29-04.04)

Last week was a really slow week for me, I don't even know why. I bow my head in shame because I didn't finish a single book. I'm sad about it, but hopefully, I'll get more done this weekend.

Here's what I got:
+ Morpheus Road: The Light by D.J. MacHale [ARC from tour]
+ Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith [borrowed]

I reviewed:+Goth Girl Rising by Barry Lyga
+Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
+Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

So since I had a slow week, I really have nothing much else to add. I was thinking of taking a break, but decided not to because I have a few reviews I need to post for some ARC's and I don't want to postpone those. I still haven't announced what I

ll be giving away this month, and I'll probably post that up later, along with a review maybe.

happy reading everyone :)

Review | Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

"Those old cows knew trouble was coming before we did." So begins the story of Lily Casey Smith, in Jeannette Walls's magnificent, true-life novel based on her no-nonsense, resourceful, hard working, and spectacularly compelling grandmother. By age six, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen, she left home to teach in a frontier town -- riding five hundred miles on her pony, all alone, to get to her job. She learned to drive a car ("I loved cars even more than I loved horses. They didn't need to be fed if they weren't working, and they didn't leave big piles of manure all over the place") and fly a plane, and, with her husband, ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls, unforgettably portrayed in The Glass Castle.

Thoughts: To be honest, I wasn't too happy about starting this book. The only reason I even considered picking it up was because of the book club I had just joined, the Slow Readers Book Club, and this was the first book we were to read and review.

Around two days before it was due at the library, I finally decided to crack it open and give it a try. The first few pages were interesting but I'm not too sure if I would've really read on if I hadn't gotten sick that weekend. I was in bed for a couple of days and of course I was taking advantage of the time I had in between naps to read, and that was when this book finally drew me in.

I was suprised at how quickly I got into this book, but from the moment I picked it up, I could no longer put it down. I finished the first half in one sitting and the next day, I finished the rest. Although not told by Lily herself, her grand-daughter, Jeannette Walls was able to tell the story amazingly like if she lived it with wonderful details and each chapter feeling like a short anectode.

I really liked Lily, she was a strong, independent woman who endured a lot and never gave up on her dreams. She was such a great person to read about. I really loved Walls writing and I definitely want to pick up her other novel, The Glass Castle, which is about her mother.

I hadn't read an adult novel in a while before reading this, sticking to YA mostly, so this was a nice refreshing change. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, it is a great novel.

Favorite Line: "'I'm okay,' I said. 'I used to break horses. One thing I know how to do is take a fall.'"

This book was provided by the local library.

March Wrap Up :)

Books Read: 8

Wintergirls
Half-Broke Horses
Sea Change
Prophecy of the Sisters
Tricks
As Simple As It Seems
Numbers
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

Audio books finished: 1

A Great and Terrible Beauty

Books Reviewed: 12

The Great Gatsby
The Hunger Games
The Chosen One
The Girl Made of Cool
Dino Vicelli: Private Eye in a World of Evils
Wicked Lovely
If I Stay
Lock and Key
Dear John
Thirteen Reasons Why
Goth Girl Rising
Wintergirls

Favorite Book this Month: I am once again unable to decide between two books, Half-Broke Horses and Numbers. Both are different, but really great books.

Challenges Status:

The Anita Blake Challenge: 0/19

Young Adult Reading Challenge: 18/25

Sarah Dessen Challenge: 3/9

Monthly Mixer Mele: 29/74

Twenty Ten Challenge: 6/20

Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge: 0/9

2010: 100+ Reading Challenge: 28/100+

Finish that Series Challenge: 0 series/10 series

iChallenge Playlist: 2/?

BookFlix Challenge: 0/?

Random Reading Challenge: 0/?

Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge: 2/20

Completed challenges: 0

I'm happy with my overall progress of the month. I finished two books less than last month, but I was able to review 12 books which is the most I've done in a while.

I didn't finish any challenges this month, but I did join for new ones. I'm a challenge junkie and I couldn't resist some of the good ones out there.

I hope I can get a bit more reading thsi month, since March felt like a slow month for me. I have lots of books I want to read and hopefully I'll be able to get to many of them this month.