Random Reads July

I am going to try to do this meme. I have never done a meme, but this looked like fun! All the credit goes to imlovingbooks.com. I first discovered this while looking at Auntie Spinelli Reads. I made a list of all the books I would like to read and then went to random.org. I had 72 on my list and my random number was 65, which was The Girl in the Steel Corset. I just picked this up at the library and it looks really good. Hopefully it will be as good as the pretty cover suggests.

Reading Stack #16

I finished both Goddess Legacy and Rapture. I will have to wait another week or two to publish my Goddess Legacy review until it is closer to the release date. I really really liked it! I am still reading Body and Soul and I have started another e-galley called Secret Letters about a girl who thinks she is the daughter of Sherlock Holmes. It has really captured my attention and I am close to the halfway point. Hopefully I will finish it this week.

Rapture by Lauren Kate

Rapture is another goodbye book as it is the last in the Fallen series. I read the e-galley and listened to the audio. Justine Eyre is an amazing narrator and I really think she captures Luce's personality perfectly.  Rapture picks up where Passion left off, with the fallen angels trying to prevent Lucifer from starting the Fall all over again. Luce, Daniel, Cam, Roland, Arianne, Gabbe, Molly, and Annabelle set off to find three relics from the time the angels fell to the earth. The three relics will help them pinpoint the spot of the Fall and stop Lucifer. Along the way Luce must discover her true role and will learn the true cost of love. She learns that Daniel may not be her first love and that she is actually more than she appears. Will true love prevail or will the sacrifice be too much? Kate definitely makes you root for Daniel and Luce.

This book both surprised me and didn't surprise me. I had guessed part of the secret, but was surprised about Luce's love history. I thought it was a fitting ending to the series. Lauren Kate weaves a sweet love story into the Fall and embellishes on a little discussed religious event. Part of the religion talk bothered me, because of the whole it is a good thing Luce is not baptised and the human sacrifice that occurs in the story. Kate's depiction of the Throne was interesting and I liked that she focused on the theme of mercy, as that is a big part of love that is often overlooked. I waited a few days on writing this review to focus on what I really thought about the book. I enjoyed the storytelling and was only squeamish about the two things I mentioned earlier. I don't really think it is making fun of religion or anti-religion as much as it really isn't meant to be taken as being about religion. Looking at it as a story that uses part of religious heritage in the same way others use Greek myths, I think it is good. I think that is the way Kate meant it to be taken and that is the way I will look at it. Her use of mercy as an attribute of the Throne lines up with Christian and Jewish religions. I can't wait to read more of Lauren Kate's writing, because I love her descriptions and flawed characters.

Favorite Character: I wish Shelby and Miles were mentioned more in the book, as they were my favorites from the previous three books. I think Arriane and Roland are the most interesting and I love their type of love as a platonic one where each one leans on the other. Kate seems to leave some room for hope with Roland and Cam at the end of the story.

Favorite Quote: "Are you prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice for your love?"

This is a hard one to rate. It is not quite a 5 bars of chocolate book, but a 4 seems to low. I will give this 4.5 bars of chocolate. It was a good, sweet ending to the series.

Reading Stack #15

I finished Timepiece and only have one more character point of view left in Goddess Legacy. However I will have to wait a bit before I post the Goddess Legacy review. It is really good. Aimee Carter just keeps getting better and better. I loved the insight into the character's minds. You definitely won't look at Calliope and Persephone in the same way. I hope to finish Goddess Legacy tonight or in the next day or so. I received Underworld as an audio to review, so I won't review it on here. I am working my way through Rapture in e-galley and audio, so that is definitely on my list this week. I hope to get more into City of Lost Souls, for some reason I just don't want to finish it and then have to wait awhile for the next one. I am going to add Body and Soul by Kade to my list. I also picked up Starters at the library and will slowly be reading this. That will be all on my stack for now, but I may add a different title or two before reviewing again.

Timepiece by Myra McEntire

I finally finished another book this month! Summer Reading programs are great, but they really take away from my reading time.

I received Timepiece as an e-galley from Net-galley, but this is an impartial review. When I first saw that is was going to be from another character's point of view other than Emerson, I was disappointed. When I saw it was from Kaleb's point of view, I was really unsure about it, but boy did Myra McEntire make me happy in the end. Kaleb in the first book seems a bit self-centered, but you do pity him for losing both parents. However the same thing happened to Em and she seemed strong and selfless. It is only from Kaleb's point of view that we really see he is one of the most selfless characters in the series. Kaleb has to deal with everyone's emotions, which drives him to drinking, until he gets involved with Lily. Lily was one of my favorite characters in the series and seeing her from Kaleb's eyes made me like her even more. Lily finds things and what the Hourglass needs her to find is Jack Landers. Chronos, another time-related organization, wants Jack and after killing Em and then reversing time, they show Kaleb they can take everything he loves, if Jack doesn't take them first. Kaleb, Lily, Em, and Michael must track down Jack, not kill him, and bring him to Teague, a former colleage of Liam, Kaleb's father. Teague is the head of Chronos. Coupled with the ultimatum is the fact that time rips are appearing more and more and everyone with the time gene can see them. Kaleb must try to keep his friends safe, restore his mom to her normal self, and find Jack, all while trying not to self-destruct. With his friends' support and Lily's help, he just might succeed. The prize though may be bigger than the Hourglass thought, with the revelation of the Infinityglass, which is cleverly the focus of the next book. A slightly cliffhanger ending has us all anxiously awaiting the third book!

I loved this just as much as Hourglass! McEntire is extremely talented, especially with getting into the minds of her characters. Very few people could pull off presenting a series from more than one POV and really capture their characters well. I can't decide which book I like best, which will make my Best of 2012 difficult!

Favorite Character: Again it is Lily. She is loyal, headstrong, and strong. She refuses to break in situations where most people would just sit and sob. Seeing her from Kaleb's point of view just made her more likeable.

Favorite Quote: "'Meow.' Best come-on line ever. 'If you ask to rub my belly or make any of the obvious body-part jokes, I'll steal your sword and you'll leave here needing a peg leg. Or worse. Got it, sailor?'" If only all first meetings were as sweet. ;)

Obviously this is a five bar of chocolate rating! Loved it as much as the first! Definitely one of my Best of 2012.

Best of 2012, part 2

With Summer Reading still going on, I haven't been able to finish a single book since The Enchantress! How ironic, I can't do my summer reading, because of Summer Reading. ;) So I thought I would look at a few more of my five bar books for my Best of 2012. Fallen in Love gained five bars, because I loved the look into the lives of some of the secondary characters of the Fallen series. I am halfway through Rapture, which is on its way to a five bar review as well. Fallen in Love showed the spark of love form for Shelby and Miles, so yay that he is over Luce! I enjoyed seeing more into Roland's character, since he seems to be one of the most caring, but is part of the dark side. It was also heartbreaking to see how Arianne got her scars. The end story between Luce and Daniel shows one of the bright spots of their timeless love.

Leviathan is next in the list, but of course all three books in the series garnered the five bar mark. One of the best series I have read in a long time! I loved watching Deryn and Alek interact and I love Westerfeld's twists on WWI and steampunk. Alan Cummings did an amazing job narrating this series and all three are among the best audios I have heard. You grow to really care about these characters and you even want the two main characters to become romantically involved. What could be better than a forbidden romance! These two series prove that!

Serpent's Shadow and Enchantress

Summer Reading programs have taken all of my energy lately, so I have not posted reviews or really read all that much. I think for both Serpent's Shadow and The Enchantress, I will not post formal reviews, but instead focus on what I liked about them. They were both goodbye books, which seems to be my theme lately.

I did not realize Serpent's Shadow was the last in the Kane Chronicles, until I read the last chapter. I enjoyed the two person perspective, I know that some people did not, but I loved hearing Sadie's voice and then Carter's. I particularly liked the audios of this series. Riordan's takes on Egyptian mythology were very interesting and I think Egypt is not focused on enough in the classroom. I love his brand of humor and Sadie and Carter's very unique perspectives. I think Sadie is probably my favorite character for her spunk, but also her loyalty. I think the ending was just right for the series. I will be interested to see if Sadie and Carter cross paths with the Olympians in a big way, which seems to be hinted at in this book. I would definitely give it 5 bars of chocolate.

The Enchantress, I knew was the last book in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. I hated saying goodbye to this series, but like Vampire Kisses, I felt like it was time. This one was just as good as all the rest in the series. I was really surprised at the end, but then realized I should not have been surprised, because there were hints everywhere. This is another book focused on myths, but Michael Scott particularly focuses on Celtic mythology, another overlooked area in the world of myths. I did actually shed tears reading this book, when a few characters gave their all for humanity. I would have enjoyed a little more information at the end, but still it was a good book. I really enjoyed Josh's character in this book, whereas before it was Sophie who I was always interested in more than her brother. He shows more growth at the end and it really became more his story than hers, which I kind of expected. Again this is another series in which the audio is awesome. Paul Boehmer really brings the characters to life, as cheesy as that sounds. His tone and vocal choices give the characters even more depth and emotion. The story may revolve around the twins of legend, but the secondary characters have just as much depth as the others. The final reveal of what one to save the world, one to destroy it, was perfect. Definitely another 5 bars of chocolate book.

Both of these goodbye books were very hard on me as I was very attached to the characters, but they will be reread over and over again, I am sure. I have The Mark of Athena to look forward to from Riordan and I just downloaded Scott's book on Celtic wisdom. I will have to add Thirteen Hallows to my to be read list, even though it is an adult novel. Hopefully Scott will write more YA!