Fairy Keeper Review

TITLE: Fairy Keeper
AUTHOR: Amy Bearce
PUBLISHER: Curiosity Quills Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 3/5/2015
FORMAT: eARC
PAGES: 230
SOURCE: Publisher
MY RATING: 

SUMMARY (FROM GOODREADS): Forget cute fairies in pretty dresses. In the world of Aluvia, most fairies are more like irritable, moody insects. Almost everyone in the world of Aluvia views the fairy keeper mark as a gift, but not fourteen-year-old Sierra. She hates being a fairy keeper, but the birthmark is right there on the back of her neck. It shows everyone she was born with the natural ability to communicate, attract, and even control the tiny fairies whose nectar is amazingly powerful. Fairy nectar can heal people, but it is also a key ingredient in synthesizing Flight, an illegal elixir that produces dreaminess, apathy and hallucinations. She's forced to care for a whole hive of the bee-like beasties by her Flight-dealing, dark alchemist father.

Then one day, Sierra discovers the fairies of her hatch are mysteriously dead. The fairy queen is missing. Her father's Flight operation is halted, and he plans to make up for the lost income by trading her little sister to be an elixir runner for another dark alchemist, a dangerous thug. Desperate to protect her sister, Sierra convinces her father she can retrieve the lost queen and get his operation up and running.

The problem? Sierra's queen wasn't the only queen to disappear. They're all gone, every single one, and getting them back will be deadly dangerous.

Sierra journeys with her best friend and her worst enemy--assigned by her father to dog her every step--to find the missing queens. Along the way, they learn that more than just her sister's life is at stake if they fail. There are secrets in the Skyclad Mountains where the last wild fairies were seen. The magic Sierra finds there has the power to transform their world, but only if she can first embrace her calling as a fairy keeper.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I enjoyed this book. There was a point in the story where I was afraid we were going to run into a love triangle, but fortunately that didn't happen. I liked running into all of the different magical creatures. It was interesting to see the way they were described. This was a good story. There was plenty of action and adventure, a couple of bad guys, and a mission. It was well rounded and fun to read. I felt good about the ending. I like how everything was wrapped up.

CHARACTERS: The main character, Sierra, was a pretty good character. She was strong and wanted to do everything she had to in order to get her sister back, but at the same time, she was still a teenage girl and felt like a teenage girl. I also really liked the development between the characters throughout the book. I liked seeing how the different relationships between different characters changed over time.

COVER: I like the cover. I like that we get to see the butterfly tattoo that is described in the book.

**I received an eARC of this book from the publisher for my honest review. All opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.**

Miles To Go Review

TITLE: Miles to Go
AUTHOR: Miley Cyrus with Hilary Liftin
PUBLISHER: Disney Hyperion
PUBLICATION DATE: 1/1/2009
FORMAT: Hardcover
PAGES: 272
SOURCE: Bought
MY RATING:


INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Three years ago, Miley Cyrus was a virtual unknown. Her life in rural Tenneessee was filled with family, friends, school, cheerleading, and the daily tasks of living on a farm. And then came a little show called Hannah Montana.

Almost overnight, Miley would rocket to superstardom, becoming a television and singing phenomenon. Quiet days were replaced with sold-out concerts, television appearances, and magazine shoots. But through it all, Miley has remained close to her family and friends and has stayed connected to the Southern roots that have made her so strong.

In Miles to Go, Miley offers an honest, humorous, and often touching story of one girl's coming-of-age--from private moments with her pappy to off-roading with her dad, Billy Ray, to her run-ins with mean girls. Miley talks about suffering through drama and heartbreak and coming out the other end unscathed (relatively). And now, for the first time, she will discuss it all--the milestones still left to reach (driver's license! voting!), the dreams to live out (travel to Asia! find true love!), and the lessons to be learned (remembering to enjoy every moment!).

This is a truly unique look inside the world of one of today's biggest and brightest stars as she tackles looking back and moving forward. 

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I am not afraid to admit that I loved the television show Hannah Montana and was sad when it ended. This book pretty much explains how Miley Cyrus became Hanna Montana as well as her journey during and slightly after the show ended. You can definitely tell that this book was written by a younger person by the voice of the story, but I still enjoyed it and was entertained. This book will not blow you away by any means, but it was interesting to me to get an inside look at Miley Cyrus's early days. I really liked reading all of the little lists that were randomly scattered throughout the book.

I really wish that Miley would write another book. I feel like she is misunderstood. Yes, she has made some poor choices about the way she has presented herself, but I feel like she is a very kind and caring person. I have seen her on a few talk shows and it seems like she wants to express herself and have fun. I would like to see how a book about the last few years would compare and I'd really be interested to see what she would have to say now.

COVER: The cover is fine. It's a picture of Miley for a book about Miley.

The Sin Eater's Daughter Review

TITLE: The Sin Eater's Daughter
AUTHOR: Melinda Salisbury
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 2/25/2015
FORMAT: ARC
PAGES: 320
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING: 


INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, none of the lords or ladies ever speak to her. Because Twylla isn't exactly a member of the court.


She's the executioner.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each week, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla's touch, avoids her company.
But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet, Twylla's been promised to the prince and knows far too well what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the last of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies--a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I wanted to like this book so bad. It started out and I was a little confused by all of the strange character names and kingdom names, but I figured I was adjust to it. I'm not much of a fantasy reader and I sometimes have trouble with fantasy books because of the strange names and overly descriptive passages. I did adjust a little bit, but it was still a little difficult for me not to zone out when the passages were describing some of the gods.


In my opinion, this book was so boring. Nothing was happening. I had heard that there were people who loved this book, so I kept pushing myself to read on telling myself that it must get better if so many people like it. The plot started to pick up (sort of) about 2/3rds of the way through the book, but even then it was slow moving. There were some twists with the plot and we learn things that, at least for me, didn't even cross my mind as a possibility, but I was still pretty bored with this book. I need more things to happen and more action.


CHARACTERS: I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Maybe it was because I was so bored with this story line that I just didn't pay attention to the characters, but they just fell flat for me. I feel like I didn't really know anything about anyone.


COVER: The cover of the book is so beautiful. It's part of the reason why I pushed myself to keep reading. I figured if a book could have this pretty of a cover, it has to be good, but unfortunately that wasn't the case for me.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review**

Read Between The Lines Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Read Between The Lines

AUTHOR: Jo Knowles

PUBLISHER: Candlewick Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 3/10/2015

FORMAT: ARC

PAGES: 336

SOURCE: Amazon Vine

MY RATING:

BACK COVER SUMMARY: Unpopular Nate suffers a broken finger courtesy of a bully in gym class. The middle one--splinted to flip off the world. It won't be the last time that finger is raised in this extraordinary novel. Dreams Claire envisions herself sitting in a cafe, filling a journal with her thoughts--but fate has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star; another questions just how, as a "big girl," she fits in. A group of boys scam clueless drivers for beer money without remorse--or so it seems.

Their voices--and many others--speak of the complex dance that is life in a small town. These characters orbit one another, trying to understand and be understood in the face of trauma, heartbreak, and revenge. The line where presentation and perception meet can be hard to discern. Unless, of course, one can look a little closer--and read between the lines.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book is made up of many many different perspectives. I like how all of the stories are intertwined, but we don't see them collide all at once, we see things unfold slowly throughout the story. It makes you think about how people are always interspersed in each other's lives and how we are all connected in some way or another, even if we don't realize the impact we may have on other people. This book is a very small snippet of time for this community and it was really interesting to read about.

CHARACTERS: The book gives the perspectives of ten different characters. Because the book is so short and there are so many characters, I feel like I didn't really get to know any of them as deeply as I would have liked. But I also feel that this story is more about the community as a whole than any one individual character, so it works for this book.

COVER: The cover is pretty simplistic, which is a feature I like in covers. It ties in well with the story.

**I received and ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.**

Book Trailer Reveal - Awakening by Shannon Duffy

The time is here to reveal the book trailer for Awakening by Shannon Duffy. But first, a summary of the book.

Desiree Six (because she was born on a Friday) believes in everything the Protectorate stands for. She likes the safety and security of having her entire life planned out--her career, her mate, even the date of her death. She doesn't even think to question when Darian, her childhood friend and neighbor, is convicted of murdering his parents. They had seemed like such a loving family. But if he was convicted, then he must have done it.

Then Darian shows up in her room late one night. he has escaped the Terrorscape--a nightmare machine used to punish all Noncompliants--and he needs Desiree's help. What he tells her rocks her world to its core and makes her doubt everything she's ever been told. With this new information, will Desiree and Darian be able to escape the Protectorate before it's too late?

Find Shannon Duffy Online:

Website: http://www.shannonduffylit.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShannonDuffyLit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.duffy.56

Be sure to pick up your copy on 4/07/2015!
Amazon B&N iTunes Goodreads

The Third Twin Review

TITLE: The Third Twin
AUTHOR: C. J. Omololu
PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
PUBLICATION DATE: 2/24/2015
FORMAT: ARC
PAGES: 336
SOURCE: Amazon Vine
MY RATING:


BACK COVER SUMMARY: When they were little, Lexi and her identical twin, Ava made up a third sister, Alicia. If something broke? Alicia did it. Cookies got eaten? Alicia's guilty. Alicia was always to blame for everything.

The game is all grown up now that the girls are seniors. They use Alicia as their cover to go out with boys who are hot but not exactly dating material. Boys they'd never, ever be with in real life.

Now one of the guys Alicia went out with has turned up dead, and Lexi wants to stop the game for good. As coincidences start piling up, Ava insists that if they follow the rules for being Alicia, everything will be fine. But when another boy is killed, the DNA evidence and surveillance photos point to only one suspect--Alicia. The girl who doesn't exist.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I really like the concept behind this story and I was hoping that it would live up to my expectations. My expectations were a little too high though and I was slightly disappointed, but I didn't hate it. I was expecting this book to read as more of a mystery/suspense novel, but it was more like a contemporary novel with  mystery/suspense elements. The story line was good, I just felt like I wanted it to be more intense. I wanted to be kept on the edge of my seat the whole time, but the story was more tame with a few moments of suspense. I would definitely recommend this to readers who like contemporary but want to try to branch out a little bit.

CHARACTERS: I feel like the characters kept making some decisions that I can't see anyone ever making. It just didn't make any sense to me why they were choosing to do these things. My favorite character in this book was Zane. I feel like he was a loyal friend and I liked his personality.

COVER: I like the cover. It is really creepy and part of the reason that I expected this book to be a lot more suspenseful.

**I received an ARC of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review**

 

February 2015 Wrap Up

This month I read a total of 10 books with 9 of them counting towards my 2015 "Real" Book Challenge. That leaves my totals so far for the year at 25 total books read and 24 "Real" books read.




"Real" Books:



E-Books:



Reviews Written:
Playlist For The Dead
I Remember You
Red Queen
Afterworlds
The Duff