Cover Reveal: The Iron Fey Books

 

Yesterday, Julie Kagawa released the cover images on her blog of two new books! Now, if you've read the Iron Fey series and are a fan, you will love this! If you haven't read them yet, I would suggest you catch up. Her new book, The Iron Legends is a compilation of three novellas; "Winter's Passage", "Summer's Crossing", and a new novella. The already released novellas were only on e-book format, but now us old-fashioned readers can enjoy them too!  (Starting in August, of course.) Cover wise, I'm not a fan of it. First thing that bothers me? Puck. Where's his famous flaming hair!? That's like his trademark! (I also don't imagine him that way and don't find the model for him attractive in the slightest.) As for Ash, he's alright, but what the heck is he looking at? As for Meghan, she's okay. I imagined her more elvish looking, like how Kagawa describes her when she's in the Fey's realm. Oh well. Back to the more important things; content. What else might this book contain? Oh, I don't know. Perhaps the first chapter of her soon-to-be-released book, The Lost Prince?!

So, Meghan and Ash and (lovely) Puck have had their run. Now, even though it's in the same world, it's time for an overlooked character to shine. Ethan Chase, Meghan's little brother, is stepping out of his big sis's shadow and becoming...well, just look at that cover. Isn't is beautiful!? Who thought that little boy would grow into that!?  While the graphics are a little distracting and not the best, I like this cover. I'm more likely to pick this book up than the other. (Though parents might be apt to choose Legends because of the more skin that is covered.) I'm still going to buy both though, because Julie Kagawa is just simply amazing. What do you think? Are the covers worthy enough of Kagawa's awesome? Do you agree with who they chose for the famous trio?

Follow Friday (14)

 

It's Follow Friday time again! Woo! Anyway... This week's feature is Little Read Riding Hood (@ Alison Can Read) and 
Book that Thing!(@ Parajunkee)! Go check' em out. :D

Now for the question...

Q: Have you had a character that disappointed you? One that you fell in love with and then "broke up" with later on in either the series or a stand-alone book? Tell us about him or her.

   Oh yes. Oooooh yes. Immediately,  a book came to mind and the certain character from it. Now, please don't hate me or tell me how horrible I am... (I mean, you can, but that would hurt my feelers.)

   For me, it was Katniss Everdeen from the ever-popular series, The Hunger Games. When I started reading the series, I loved Katniss. She was kick-a**, but not rude. She was tough, but not insensitive. She could handle herself, take care of her family, and still not break under pressure. I loved her. In Catching Fire, I loved her even more. I can't say I understand why she does get so gushy sometimes, given who she was set up to be, but oh well.
   However, when I started Mockingjay, I immediately thought, "Wait. Where's my Katniss?" In that third book, Katniss wasn't so up to being kick-a**, tough, and taking care of others. In fact, she broke under pressure and she was super sensitive. She didn't want to get back out there and DO SOMETHING. Instead, she let herself be the emblem of the rebellion. She could have been both and have done wonderfully. We all know it was in her, she just gave up. The whole mental problem from her injury may have factored into it, but I don't think that was the root of this. I think she changed because Suzanne Collins wanted her to, or she changed because there was this huge flaw in her character that Collins didn't show us earlier. And that, IMHO, is chicken poo. Sorry, but I'm pretty touchy about this subject. I just loved Katniss so much, and then Mockingjay happened.
(Also, Gale fits into this disappointment too. I loved Gale but then I was like, "Who are you!?". However, he didn't bother me as much as Katniss.)

Anybody feel the same or have some way explaining to me about what happened to Katniss (with a legit reason)?
 Because I would love to know.

Teaser Tuesday

 

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

It's Tuesday again! Here's my teaser: (I usually don't do just two sentences. Whatever it takes to finish the blurb.)

""Well," Loial said, "perhaps you humans do have short lives, but you do so much with them, always jumping around, always so hasty. And you have the whole world to do it in. We Ogier are bound to our stedding. " "You're Outside." "For a time, Rand. But I must go back, eventually. This world is yours, yours and your kind's. The stedding are mine. There's too much hurly-burly Outside. And so much is changed from what I read about."" 
- page 204 of " To the Blight: The Eye of the World Part 2 " by Robert Jordan

Review: From the Two Rivers

 

Title:From the Two Rivers (#1 The Wheel of Time series)

Author: Robert Jordan

Publisher: Starscape

Release Date:  January 7th 2002 (First published in 1990)

For Rand al’Thor and his pals, life in the sleepy village of Emond’s Field has been pretty dull. Until the appearance on festival night of Moiraine, a mysterious woman who claims to be an Aes Sdeai—a magician who can wield the One Power. Soon after, the village is attacked by Trollocs—a savage tribe of half-men half-beasts. Rand’s father is nearly killed. But for Rand, the news gets worse. It was not the village the Trollocs were after, Moiraine tells him. It was you, Rand.

Rand and his friends are forced to flee. But his escape will bring him face to face with the Dark One...the most powerful force of evil in the universe.

The Wheel of Time series is an old series for young adult, but it has had nothing but high acclaims. I have been strongly urged to read this series by one of my best friends and I'm glad she did.

One thing that always daunts me with books like these are the old tiny fonts. They hurt my eyes, especially when there's a lot. And there is A LOT. However, I didn't let that sway me. It took me a long time to finish this book because it just didn't hook me right away. The beginning wasn't up to the speed I like but it wasn't that slow either. It was at that iffy area. But, by the end of the book, I was attached to the characters and immediately wanted to know more.

Something I loved about this book is the style. It is so very similar to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. Being a big LotR fan, I couldn't help but love this book. The landscape, the descriptions, the characters, the writing style...all very Tolkien-esque.

The only downside of this book is the pace. I don't care for the pace. It's a little too long for my liking, but that's how it is with lots of description. All in all, I loved the book. Not a light read in the slightest but I'd recommend the series. (Albeit daunting with it's 15 books...)

Follow Friday (13)

 

It's Follow Friday time again, and it's on Friday the 13th! Woo! (No, I don't believe it's bad luck. I support the day because I was born on a 13th! :D) Anyway... This week's feature is Book Briefs (@ Alison Can Read) and Gizmos Reviews (@ Parajunkee)! Go check' em out. :D

Now for the question...

 

Q: What is one book that you would be nervous to see a movie adaption of because you think the movie could never live up to the book?

I'm nervous with all books when they're made into adaptations, but there is one book (actually, series) that I would be SUPER nervous about. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. I'd be really worried who'd they cast, mainly for Puck. Ben Barnes is a dead ringer for Ash but I don't like anyone but Xavier Samuel for Puck (Ever since Nicki @WORD For Teens suggested him for Puck's role, I can't imagine anyone else filling his shoes.). I also don't think that the world it's set in could be accurately portrayed. However, if filmmakers got it right, I would be ecstatic beyond belief. I would love that film to my dying day. :D

So, what book did you choose?

Review: I Heart You, You Haunt Me

 

Title: I Heart You, You Haunt Me

Author: Lisa Schroeder

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Release Date:  January 8th 2008

Formant: Paperback (Bought)

Girl meets boy.
Girl loses boy.
Girl gets boy back...

...sort of.

Ava can't see him or touch him,
unless she's dreaming.
She can't hear his voice,
except for the faint whispers in her mind.
Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson.
The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with.
He's back from the dead,
as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me was a light, easy, and enjoyable read. It was the first verse story I've ever read and I absolutely love that style. It's so interesting!

The story itself was good. It grabbed the reader right away, played on an interesting concept, and developed into a nice read. I wasn't that happy with the ending since I really did like Lyric a lot. I felt that it could have gone a little farther in the end, showed the main character with a new guy. However, I still enjoyed the story.

So, a short review for a short book. I enjoyed it and I'm sure many will continue to. I'd definitely recommend this for an easy summer read. 

I gave it FOUR out of FIVE Sporks!

 

Apologies

 

First off, Happy Easter guys! (If you observe, of course.) So, I do have some explaining to do. 

Today is my first day back at home from a very long trip! I was able to participate in an overnight program at UCSD (University of California, San Diego for those who don't know the acronym.) and it was wonderful! My days were jammed packed with things to do and I enjoyed it. I also went on various mini trips with my family and caught up on a lot of work.

 Unfortunately, that meant that the whole month of March was out for my blog. While I may have caught up with most everything else, I let this slide. My apologies to you, and to myself, because I LOVE this blog. I WILL be starting this up regularly again, so you'll start to see posts gearing it up to run full time again. 

If you have any suggestions for the blog, feel free comment/email me. I love hearing from people.

Anyway, stay tuned for more posts!