Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Title: Choker

Author: Elizabeth Woods

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Release Date: January 4, 2011

Source: From Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange had been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team and tries to avoid the popular girls who, after an embarrassing incident in the cafeteria, endlessly torture her, calling her Choker. But mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe’s on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara’s life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and the next thing she knows, she’s getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she can talk about everything with her BFF.

But just as quickly as Cara’s life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect--including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day while Cara’s at school. You’re supposed to trust your best friend no matter what...but what if she turns into a total stranger?

I didn’t have much to go on except for the summary when I first started reading Choker. It sounded interesting and like something I would enjoy. As it turned out, it was very interesting and I did enjoy reading it but not at all in the ways that I expected. One thing is for sure, this is one book that really played with my mind.

Cara has only ever had one friend, Zoe. But in the fifth grade, her parents moved her to another town where she never really made any new friends. Now in high school, Cara sits with the other girls in the track team at lunch and stays alone the rest of the time. Mostly, she stays away from the popular girls who like nothing more than to tease her, until one day she chokes on a carrot and becomes even more ridiculed. Just when Cara thought things couldn’t get any worse, Zoe shows up in her room and things all of a sudden start looking up. Things may be getting better for Cara, but for the rest of the town tragedy strikes. Not only that, but as the days go by, Zoe starts acting more and more strange, getting to the point where it scares Cara.

There is so much more to Cara than meets the eye. She comes across just as your typical loner but once you scratch the surface you find out that she’s much more than that. A lot of her personality is actually based around her relationship with Zoe. Cara depends a lot on Zoe, and sometimes it was almost like she couldn’t really function without Zoe’s support or opinion. But that, like much else in the book, isn’t what it appears to be. The story focuses a lot on the relationship between the two friends, especially from Cara’s point of view. As much as the reader finds out about Cara, there is very little that is said about Zoe, only what Cara knows about her and her past. The mystery around Zoe is essentially a large part of what moves the story forward. Outside of Zoe, Cara only really cares about Ethan Gray. Cara’s relationship with him is somewhat similar to the one she has with Zoe in the sense that a lot of her actions are motivated by him.

The story itself works in a similar way to Cara. Almost right from the beginning, I thought I knew how things would turn out. In my mind I had the whole thing figured out, I was just curious about how long Cara would take to catch up with me. But as the story moved forward, I started doubting what I had originally thought. To be honest, when I thought I had everything figured out, I thought I would get bored by the story but the complete opposite happened. From the moment I began doubting my original thoughts, I got dragged in to the story, wanting nothing more than to get to the bottom of things. And like I’ve said, things definitely did not turn out the way I expected them to. Woods’s writing was also a large part of what kept me going through the story. She wrote in a way that you only ever got the smallest amount of information possible to understand what is happening which only served to make me more curious.

Overall Choker was a very interesting read. What I thought would just be another run of the mill story about two friends turned out to be so much more. I found myself going through a wide range of emotions, never knowing what to expect. This was a great debut for Elizabeth Woods and I look forward to reading what comes next from this author.

Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Title: Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6)

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: December 7, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir’s Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose--for a crime she didn’t even commit. She’s in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She’ll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose’s life in running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she truly is out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you?

Join Rose, Dimitri, Adrian, and Lissa in Last Sacrifice, the epic, unforgettable finale to Richelle Mead’s international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series.

****SPOILER ALERT!!! DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS BOOK OR THE PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE SERIES!!!****

Last Sacrifice was simply AMAZING. I apologize ahead of time if it seems like I’m rambling but I’m having trouble putting my thoughts into words about this book. I’m always torn between wanting to keep reading and making it last as long as possible when it comes to the last installment of a series. I was happy to be reunited with Rose an her friends once again their adventures never ceased to amuse me.

Not a stranger to trouble, Rose Hathaway now finds herself in more trouble than she has ever been. She is being accused of having murdered Queen Tatiana, a murder she has not committed. Being who she is and having the friends she does, Rose gets the help she needs in order to clear her name. In order to clear her name, Rose and her friends take on most of the Moroi Court and travel across the country to find all the necessary evidence. Ready to do whatever it takes Rose and her friends only have so much time to do what they hope. To get more time what better way than to have Lissa run for Queen of the Moroi?

By this point in the series, I honestly feel like the characters in the books are real people that I could randomly meet in the street. Rose is one of my favorite heroines out there and should she actually exist, I’m sure we would be best friends. In this book, I love her more than ever. Her butt-kicking, sarcasm, and moral code just make me love her that much more. And her friendship with Lissa just seals the deal for me. She would do anything for Lissa and just about anyone else she loves. My only problem with Rose in this book is that she is with Adrian but that can easily be overlooked in the long run. In this book I was really liking the bond between her and Lissa this time around. The two spent a lot of time apart so it gave good insight into what Lissa was thinking and feeling as well as what was going on with everyone that was left behind at Court.

You’ve heard me say this before, Dimitri pretty much drives me crazy. In the other books I didn’t always understand his actions and most of the time those actions confused me and made me angry. But now I love Dimitri more than ever. There is a clear change happening in him throughout the book. And without giving anything away I was way more than happy with the end result. Now if only Dimitri actually existed I would be extremely happy. I am Team Dimitri all the way, but I still love Adrian. The guy sure has a lot of flaws but deep down he has a lot of potential to be a really great guy. I feel like I never really talk about Christian even though I absolutely love him. Most of the time he just makes me crack up with his cynical comments and just his general attitude. He and Lissa really work well together and I’m happy they were able to work everything out.

I often find myself be let down by the last book in a series but this one really didn’t disappoint. The story took me to places I never expected to go. Every time I turned a page I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Each chapter finished on a cliffhanger only making me want to read further, resulting in me reading the whole book in one day and that doesn’t happen to me often. More than anything else, I loved the ending. Everything came to a complete circle, there were no loose ends left to tie up. And the way that was all done made me really happy and had me giggling while getting teary eyed when I read the very last page, read the book and you’ll understand.

Last Sacrifice was an amazing finale to an extraordinary series. Except now that it’s over, it feels like there’s something missing. I can’t wait for Bloodlines, the spin-off series based on some of the minor characters. Hopefully there will be some appearances from my favorite Vampire Academy peeps.

In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie. It's a post where we write about the books received during the week either for review, from the bookstore or contests and swaps.

Since I've been kind of gone the last couple of weeks, this In My Mailbox includes everything that I've gotten since Christmas.

Christmas presents:

- Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (I finished it yesterday and it was simply amazing)

- Virals by Kathy Reichs

Won:

- Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz (thanks to Katie of Call Me Crazy)

Review:

- Choker by Elizabeth Woods (finished copy thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada)

Bought:

- Morganville Vampires Omnibus by Rachel Caine(Books 1-3 UK edition...and no I haven't read these yet)

- Awakened by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

- Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman (British author - signed copy)

- Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (signed copy)

Essentially my TBR pile is still growing and I look forward to reading all of these books.

Book Blogger Hop (25) & Follow Friday (17)

It's Friday so it means it's time for the first Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday of 2011!

First off, the Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books. It is a way for all the book bloggers out there to get together and find out about each other's blogs. I've found a lot of great blogs and bloggers through this hop and it's always fun to take part in each week.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

WHAT BOOK INFLUENCED OR CHANGED YOUR LIFE? HOW DID IT INFLUENCE/CHANGE YOU?

I don't think I can really say a book changed or influenced my life but some books have changed my outlook on certain things. Maybe they haven't influenced and changed my life but they have taught me a lot. I've learned so much from books that I probably would have taken a lot longer to learn otherwise. The one way I can say that books have changed my life is that I tend to spend a lot more time in fictional worlds than in real lives...but I'm probably not the only one.

The Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View each week. It works a lot like the Book Blogger Hop except that it's only on Fridays. I haven't been taking part in this hop as long but I've found a lot of great new blogs through this one too.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

WHAT BOOK(S) HAVE YOU DISCOVERED LATELY FROM SOMEONE'S BOOK BLOG?

I might be going back a while but I discovered the Vampire Academy series by reading different reviews on a number of book blogs. Granted I discovered them a while back but those are the only books I can really think of at the moment.

UPDATE:

You may have noticed that past couple of weeks I was a little MIA what with exams and then going home for the holidays but now I'm back. There may or may not be changes to the blog in the new year, mostly it will come down to my mood and how much money I have in my bank account. Last semester I realized I actually have a lot more time to read (or at least I make more time) than I originally thought so I will probably be posting reviews more often. As for the rest, like I said, it will mostly depend on my mood.

That's it for this week!

Enjoy your weekends!

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

Title: Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5)

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: May 18, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Siberia, Dimitri’s birthblace, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s--and to her best friend, Lissa Dragomir. It’s graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives outside of the academy’s cold iron gates to finally begin. But even with the intrigue and excitement of court life looming, Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri. He’s out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance, and now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won’t join him, he won’t rest until he has silenced her...forever.

But Rose can’t forget what she learned on her journey--whispers of a magic too impossible and terrifying to comprehend. A magic inextricably tied to Lissa that could hold the answer to all of Rose’s prayers, but not without devastating consequences. Now Rose will have to decide what--and who--matters most to her. And in the end, is trues love really worth the price.

So most of you have heard me gush over the Vampire Academy series and I will continue to do so in this review. Consider yourself forewarned. I absolutely love these books and as many of you know I am totally Team Dimitri and this has yet to change though I am liking Adrian more and more. But besides my swooning over Dimitri, once again the story was amazing and a lot of what happened it did not necessarily see coming which only made the story that much better. Spirit Bound was simply awesome, much like the other books in the series, so prepare for some gushing on my part.

During her time in Siberia, Rose discovered there may be away to bring Dimitri back, to turn him back to a dhampir. And Rose being who she is, she is prepared to do just about anything to get him back. Only this time she doesn’t do it on her own. She has graduated high school and is following Lissa and their friends to Court to get her official assignment. While waiting for that assignment, Rose sneaks out of Court with Lissa and Eddie and jets off to Alaska to do nothing less than break someone out of jail. Of course with that comes all the usual trouble. But Rose and Lissa do succeed in turning Dimitri back. But of course, like with all of Rose’s plans, even more trouble comes out of this than she thought possible.

You’ve heard me say it before but I absolutely love Rose. She is just such a great character. She has a mind of her own and all things considered she pretty much has her own moral compass too...and it doesn’t really always point north. The lengths she will to go to help her friends are just incredible. Once again she manages to surprise me with every single one of her actions. I mean who in their right mind would break one of their worst enemies out of prison on a hunch that they can help bring someone back to life. Even though Rose technically now only has one guy in her life, she still manages to find herself in the middle of some whacked out love triangles. Adrian is honestly good for her and you can tell that she really cares about him but it’s still not the same as the way it was with Dimitri...heck the way it still is with Dimitri.

Speaking of Dimitri. He essentially drives me crazy. When he’s Strigoi I just want to kill him because he is a major jerk. But at the same time I can’t help but still love him because, well, he’s Dimitri so what else can I do? And when he’s back to being a dhampir he is almost more infuriating. I don’t want to give anything away but he just needs to get over himself and get on with his life. Kind of harsh but if you read the book and are rooting for Rose and Dimitri to be together you will totally get what I mean. And opposite from Dimitri there is Adrian. I have to admit that I am liking him more and more. You can easily tell how much he cares for Rose and that his feelings are genuine. Maybe the reason I’m rooting for Dimitri and Rose so much is because I want Adrian all to myself. Sure he has some flaws, and by some I mean many, but beneath it all there is a really great guy just waiting to be discovered.

The story itself was once again amazing. There is more action than I could wish for and twists and turns every step of the way. Some of it I saw coming, some of it not so much but regardless of all that the story was awesome. I’m not exactly sure how to describe it without giving too much of it away but it is a story you most definitely want to read. And let’s just say the ending will make you want to have Last Sacrifice on hand. It was that good.

To put it in simple terms, Spirit Bound was incredibly awesome. I finished reading it and I immediately sent my brother an e-mail to tell him to forget about getting me Last Sacrifice for Christmas. There was no way I was waiting three weeks to find out what happened next. I’ve read Last Sacrifice and you’ll here me gush about it all in another review soon.