Waiting on Wednesday (59)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers devote a post to an upcoming book release they are particularly looking forward to.

THIS WEEK'S PICK:

CREWEL BY GENNIFER ALBIN

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That's what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen-year-ld Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she's exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn't interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they're coming for her--tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom's overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister's academy gossip and laugh at her Dad's stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything's okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there's not turning back.

Despite having seen this book floating around the blogosphere for quite some time already, it's only just recently that I actually found out what the book was about. And then I decided that it sounded like something that I would be very much interested in reading. And so now I'm eagerly awaiting its release.

Crewel by Gennifer Albin will be published October 16, 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

The Greyfriar by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

Title: The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire #1)

Author: Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

Publisher: PYR Books

Release Date: November 18, 2010

Source: From Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Millions of humans were killed outright. Millions more died of disease and famine due to the havoc that followed. Within two years, once-great cities were shrouded by the grey empire of the vampire clans. Human refugees fled south to the tropics because vampires could not tolerate the constant heat there. They brought technology and a feverish drive to reestablish their shattered societies of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama or the green temples of Malaya.

It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming.

Princess Adele is heir to the Empire Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. She is quick with her with as well as with a sword or gun. She is eager for an adventure before she settles into a life of duty and political marriage to a man she does not know. But her quest turns black when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. Her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith is one of those books I've heard about a few times but never really bothered looking into. But then I found out more and my curiosity was piqued. And by the end of the book I was hooked and wanted to pick up the sequel immediately.

Her whole life, Princess Adele has known that as the heir to the Equatorian Empire she would be the one to lead the war against the vampire clans of the north. And her impending political marriage only solidified Adele's future. But that future takes a wrong turn when Adele is taken prisoner by Europe's most vicious vampire clan. Now the only person who can help Adele is the mysterious and elusive Greyfriar. But Adele can't seem to figure out the Greyfriar and soon their relationship could change everything. Especially with a deadly war between humans and vampires looming.

I didn't really know what to expect when I started reading The Greyfriar, but I wasn't disappointed by the time I finished reading the book. The story here isn't YA but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story in the least. The story in The Greyfriar was a little slower than what I'm used to, but that allowed me to appreciate different aspects of the story that much more. The descriptions of vampire Europe were incredible and I could picture it all while reading. The world building in general pretty much blew me away and is a large part of what grabbed my attention while reading. And it was a story about vampires unlike any I've read before, and it made for some really interesting characters.

The characters in The Greyfriar were really interesting to read about. There was always more to them than met the eye and that's what I enjoyed the most about them. At first I didn't think much about Adele, she just seemed like a pretty typical rebellious princess. But as the story went on, I slowly discovered that there was a lot more to her than I originally thought. By the end of the book, Adele was someone I really admired and I liked seeing how she was able to become that person. The Greyfriar intrigued me. There was so much to him that I wanted to know that hopefully I'll get to find out in the future. But regardless, he was probably the most interesting character because there was so much to him, and like I've already said, I'm hoping to find out more about his motivations in the future.

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith took me by surprise, despite having heard how great of a read it was. Despite not being what I would normally read, I found myself flipping the pages, eager to know what would happen next. And you can bet I will continue reading this series.

Stacking the Shelves (10)

Stacking the Shelves is a new weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews. It's a weekly post where book bloggers showcase the books they received throughout the week.

I was good this week and only bought one book because I just couldn't pass up getting double the discount at Chapters thanks to Canada winning a medal. But then last Sunday I met up with all the lovely Ottawa bloggers and we traded/borrowed books. And somehow I always seem to leave with more books than I arrived with...mystery, right? But anyways, here's what I got this week.

Review:

- Rift by Andrea Cremer - While I may not have been completely happy with how things ended in Bloodrose, I've been excited to read Rift ever since I first heard about it. I've heard it's really good so I'm definitely looking forward to reading it.

Thank you to Penguin Canada for sending me a gorgeous finished copy for review.

Gifted/Borrowed:

- Ten by Gretchen McNeil - I'm really excited to be able to read this book. I've heard this book is delightfully creepy and that I shouldn't read it before bed. But that's still probably what I'll do since I like torturing myself sometimes.

- The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - I was so happy when I found out I was going to be able to borrow this one. I'm really excited to read it and I've heard plenty of good things. Expect to hear my thoughts soon!

Thank you to Katie from Bookishly Yours for letting me borrow her ARCs of Ten and The Raven Boys.

- Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey - I'm not exactly sure who I ended up getting this one from, but I've heard plenty of really great things about this witch story so I'm looking forward to reading this one.

- Fathomless by Jackson Pearce - This is where I admit that I still haven't read Sisters Red and Sweetly but now that I have all three books in this series I can read them all in a row. Plus, I'm all for a Little Mermaid retelling.

- Rift by Andrea Cremer - I got this one before I got the finished copy...so yeah.

Thank you to Katherine from The Lady Critic's Library for passing along her copies of Fathomless and Rift.

Purchased:

- Endlessly by Kiersten White - I still haven't read Supernaturally, but now that I have Endless I have a reason to read it so I can read them all in a row. At any rate, I'm excited to see how this fun trilogy ends.

So that's all for me this week. Lookout for a giveaway of Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry sometime this week on the blog. And as usual, leave me a comment and let me know what you got!

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Title: Storm (Elementals #1)

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Publisher: Kensington Teen

Release Date: April 24, 2012

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys--all the ones she doesn't want. Ever since her ex-boyfriend spread those lies about her.

Then she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot. Chris is different. Way different: he can control water--just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. They're powerful. Dangerous. Marked for death.

And now that she knows the truth, so is Becca.

Secrets are hard to keep when your life's at stake. When Hunter, the mysterious new kid around school, turns up with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time, Becca thinks she can trust him. But then Hunter goes head-to-head with Chris, and Becca wonders who's hiding the most dangerous truth of all.

Despite everything I kept on hearing, I didn't really expect that much from Storm by Brigid Kemmerer. And even if I had high expectations they totally would have been met, if not surpassed. Because Storm took me completely by surprise and ended up being a fantastic read.

It would figure that right when she doesn't want any attention from boys, Becca would start attracting all the wrong boys. And all that because she decided it would be a good idea to help Chris Merrick out of a fight. Now the people who are after Chris are also after Becca, which means she gets to spend more time with the Merrick brothers than she ever wanted. And if that weren't enough, there's new guy Hunter who always seems to show up whenever there's trouble brewing. And Becca can't deny that she's attracted to him. But there's also the Merrick brothers and their control of the elements. All Becca knows is that she may be in way over her head.

So about Storm. I had heard what it was about and I knew about the plethora of hot boys. But still. I totally did not expect what I ended up getting. What Storm ended up being was pretty awesome. I absolutely did not expect to become as wrapped up in the story as quickly as I did. Brigid Kemmerer definitely hit the mark with this book. The fantastic thing about Storm is that it was different from a lot of what's already out there. There aren't that many YA books out there that focus around control of the elements and that was one of the reasons Storm stood out so much for me. The way Brigid Kemmerer presented the elemental control was really interesting and I loved getting to find out about how it all worked. I'm definitely looking forward to finding out more about it all in future books.

Before I get to the hot boys, let me just talk about Becca. I liked Becca. She definitely didn't fall in the stereotype of being the girl who needs to be rescued by the hot boy. If anything, she was the one who did the rescuing. What I liked most about Becca, though, was how she stood her own among all the boys, especially when she found herself in the middle of a Merrick family dispute. Now, about the Merrick brothers. Let's just say I wouldn't mind them being real people. In Storm I mostly got to know Chris and I think I may have fallen in love with him a little, mainly because I understood why he was trying to push Becca away. And I liked him more than Hunter. I don't really know why, Hunter was great and all, but I liked Chris better. And the other Merrick brothers were pretty great and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to know them better in future books. 

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer was more than I ever thought it would be. It had the perfect balance of romance and action, mixed in with just the right amount of paranormal. If you haven't picked up Storm yet, you are missing out. If only for all the hot boys, it's a totally worthwhile read.

Waiting on Wednesday (58)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine where book bloggers devote a post to an upcoming release they are particularly looking forward to.

THIS WEEK'S PICK:

TIME BETWEEN US BY TAMARA IRELAND STONE

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett's unique ability to travel through time and space brings him into Anna's life, and with him, a new world of adventure and possibility.

As their relationship deepens, they face the reality that time might knock Bennett back where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate--and what consequences they can bear in order to stay together.

Fresh, exciting, and deeply romantic, TIME BETWEEN US is a stunning and spellbinding debut from an extraordinary new talent in YA fiction.

I've been seeing the cover for Time Between Us floating around for quite some time and thought it was gorgeous. But it wasn't until recently that I actually took the time to read the summary. And after I did I just knew I had to read this book. I love any story that involves time travel and this one sounds like a particularly great one. It can't come out soon enough.

Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone will be published October 9, 2012 by Hyperion.