Flames ate at my clothes and roared in my ears. My skin was blistering hot, but it didn't burn.
From page 13 of Frost Blood by Elly Blake.
I sat beside her, holding her hand. Silly as it sounded, I had slouched in my chair, certain that would make her come to and correct my posture.
From The Crown by Kiera Cass (Book 5 of The Selection series.)
Gerard's:
Zoe had the binoculars trained on Stan when he turned back toward the lake and saw it blazing in the darkness--and when he first noticed the figure shooting toward him, covering hundreds of feet in an instant.
Stan was terrified.
From page 38 of The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles.
An flips through the channels. There will be tornadoes, floods, landslides, ash, fear, depravation, suffering, death.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading. Happy Reading!
Rules of the Game by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton is the third and last book of "The Endgame" series. I thought this one was the best of the three! It is a non-stop thrill ride with action galore that kept me turning pages throughout the book! I wish the ending could have been different, but that being said, I still give this book and this series 5 stars! Glad I read it.
(Gerard's review)
Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!
In The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, a man called Kvothe is telling his life story to a chronicler. He has heard about Kvothe and wants to find out what is fact and what is fantasy. This is the first of three books in this series. This book covers his life until he is in his teens. The stories in this book are really good! It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, I had to keep flipping pages. Not sure if this book is for everyone, but I enjoyed it! It lived up to the hype for me.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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I loved The Crown by Kiera Cass, the fifth book in The Selection series because Eadlyn grows up quickly when her mother has a heart attack and shows both maturity and compassion for others, finally! This was a really fun series and I was not disappointed at all in this last book! She picked the one I thought she should and I loved how she became so caring about the feelings of the selected. I do not want to spoil anything because if you are reading this series, you have to read this one too!
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
I should have dressed up to do these videos--thought of it too late!
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Windwitch by Susan Dennard is the follow up to Truthwitch which I Loved! Iseult is trying to reconnect with her sister, Safi. There is plenty of good action in this book with surprise twists and turns. I enjoyed the characters of Merik and Aepvan also. Looks like a book 3 is next and I will be on it!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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The Heir by Kiera Cass is the fourth book in this series and although I enjoyed this one the least, it still gets 4 stars from me. This is 18 years after the end of The One and the main character is America and Maxon’s eldest by seven minutes, Eadlyn. The castes have been faded out by now and there is peace; however, old prejudices and discrimination still exist among some people. Small fights all over continue to break out over dissatisfaction with the monarchy. In an effort to provide a distraction while Maxon and America try to figure something out to correct the situation, they ask Eadlyn to have a selection of her own. She very reluctantly agrees and this book then becomes similar to the TV show, The Bachelorette! 35 suitors are picked live on TV with a draw, choosing someone from each providence. Someone entered Kile Woodward’s name (Marlee’s son who grew up in the palace with Eadlyn) and he is one of the selected. Eadlyn thinks love makes one weak but made a deal with her parents to go through the process for three months provided if she didn’t find love, she would not have to choose anyone in the end and that any of them were free to leave any time if they chose. Her parents are hopeful, she just wants her freedom. It’s fun to look back to the previous book as her parents reveal things about their Selection experience to Eadlyn and how interested she is
Eadlyn is a spoiled brat and basically rude to the suiters, but in spite of herself, her wall begins to crumble and she does start to really care about some of them. Her best dates turn out to be the ones that the cameras aren’t ready for. The two group dates were really fun. Some of the guys were outside playing baseball and she came by and decided to join them! The other was set up by the guys who felt left out of the ballgame—they got her to agree to join them for the “best date ever.” They put on a talent show and through this she actually laughed and finally enjoyed herself while getting to know a bit more about the suitors.
Eadlyn is so bratty that I did not like this book as much as the previous ones, but by the end she was becoming more decent. I like how there are really several possible choices for her and I am not sure who she will pick. I think it is a very interesting addition the Henri needs a translator, Eric who tries to stay in the background and is quite smart. Henri speaks only Finnish but is very nice and a great chef! Their kitchen kiss was so sweet! I also like seeing America’ and Maxon’s friends appear in this book as well. I cheered when I saw Aspen is now a General! I flew through this book as well and continued right on with the next. I am eating up this series and highly recommend it as a light, funny, entertaining read.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)
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Karen's: Her heavy eyes filled with tears. "Then I don't care where it is. I'll go."
From page 118 of The One by Kiera Cass (Book 3 of The Selection series).
Kile wasn't as obnoxious as Josie, but, in all the years I'd known him, he'd never made anything remotely close to an interesting conversation. So help me, if I ever got a bad case of insomnia, I'd hire him to sit in my room and talk.
From page 31 of The Heir by Kiera Cass (Book 4 of The Selection series).
I sat beside her, holding her hand. Silly as it sounded, I had slouched in my chair, certain that would make her come to and correct my posture.
From The Crown by Kiera Cass (Book 5 of The Selection series.)
Gerard's:
And the sight of her hand in front of her, lifting the latch, pushing the door. And again, and again, and again, every moment since: the slow sweep of the white-painted wood, and the widening expanse of light, and her hand falling to her side through the weight of the still air, and her voice catching in her dry throat. And the room beyond.
From page 21 of Little Deaths by Emma Flint.
"You are going to keep Playing, but I want to see if we can gain an advantage first. Perhaps you can push back at the keplers, as well as do something that will help you deal with the others."
From page 82 of Sky Key (Book 2 of Endgame) byJames Frey & Johnson-Shelton.
Once the warship had burned to a flaming skeleton and the heat off the attach had drawn back, Safi turned to Vaness. The empress stood rooted to the ground, stiff as the iron she controlled.
From page 28 of Windwitch by Susan Dennard.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading. Happy Reading!
Little Deaths by Emma Flint is based on a true story. Ruth Malone lives a loose life, and that is putting it mildly. She has two kids and an on-again-off-again relationship with her husband. One night her kids are missing and in the days that follow, both are found dead. Did Ruth do it? The police and public opinion have her guilty. This book played out pretty good and kept my interest for the most part. It is worth reading for sure!
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)
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The One by Kiera Cass is the third book in The Selection series and my favorite so far! In this the action really picks up, Maxon and Aspen form a bond, America's father dies, Maxon finally chooses his princess and it has some surprises and several die. This is like a roller coaster with happy moments and very sad moments. My emotions were all over the place. The relationship developments, the danger at the palace, the plot with the rebels and Maxon's father continuing to knock America out of the competition made this book hard for me to put down.
I am loving this series and so glad I gave it a chance despite the boring covers. I like both Maxon and America and loved the ending of this one even though it was not what I expected! I am flying through these books because I am enjoying the characters so much. What a great book, loving this series!
(Karen's review, 5 stars)
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Sky Key by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton picks up where the first book left off. The nine remaining players are looking for sky key. Good action in this book too. I have my favorite players and they are still alive. Moving on to Book 3.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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Endgame--The Calling by James Frey & Nils Johnson-Shelton has constant action! Welcome to Endgame. Twelve players in the whole world. They have been trained for this. They must find three keys. There can be only one winner, no rules, Kill or be killed! The one feature I enjoyed about this book was the constant action. I never knew what was coming next! This is the first book of three so I will be moving on to Book two!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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Karen's: But how was I supposed to decide between two good possibilities? How could I make a choice that would leave some part of me devastated either way?
From page 30 of The Elite by Kiera Cass.
But anyway, to get back to the point: lifesaving and driving people nuts are Granny's superpowers. Which perhaps makes her a bit of a dysfunctional superhero.
From page 3 of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman.
Gerard's:
Marcus has wanted, waited, and prepared for Endgame his entire life. He is not longer bored, and he won't be again until he either wins or dies.
From page 4 of End Game--The Calling byJames Frey & Johnson-Shelton.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading. Happy Reading!
The Elite by Kiera Cass is the second book in The Selection series and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first one. This book has some heartbreaking moments surrounding Marlee and the competition gets a bit more interesting with only six girls left. America questions if she actually could be a good princess if she let her feelings for Maxon blossom into love or if she should just pull out and look to a future with Aspen. She really shocks the royal family with her philanthropic presentation on TV and the king really hates her now! Maxon stands up to his father for the first time to protect America and he and America finally have a heart-to-heart talk while hiding together during an attack. Will she trust Maxon? Will she learn when to keep her mouth shut and control her emotions? As she learns more what is involved in being a princess, she has more doubts but is greatly encouraged when she receives a very sweet letter from her father.
I look forward to reading book 3 and am excited to read all the rest of the books in this series (3 more to go). I really admire America’s courage but hope she can learn to control her emotions better. I love how her maids all adore her and are so eager to make her look good and help her any way they can. This book has lots of good moments but also very sad things with some surprises along the way. I really liked how sweet Maxon when he surprised America at how he handled the Marlee situation.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)
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I enjoyed this book because it is entertaining and reminded me of the show, The Bachelor. Prince Maxon, however, is a nice guy and not a sleeze at all. I like the humor throughout the book and how America slowly discovers that Maxon is not the snob she expected him to be. In fact, he is nothing but exceptionally nice to her! The love triangle that develops between her, Aspen and Maxon gets a push when Aspen is drafted as a guard at the palace and is assigned to guard America’s room. This is a quick read and I am anxious to continue on with this series. This is a pretty uplifting read with lots of happy moments.
(Karen’s review, 4 stars)
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In Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall, Norah is 17 and has accepted that the four walls of her house will be her life. She cannot possibly go outside and heaven forbid she should come in contact with a stranger. However, when a new family moves in and a young teen boy notices her, will Norah do something that she could not have imagined she would do or is she just headed for heartache?
This book is based on the author's own experiences. I enjoyed it because Norah was a fun character and thought the ending was good too!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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Karen's: Mom screamed by my ear, and May jumped up, sending popcorn everywhere. Gerad got excited too and started dancing. Dad . . it's hard to say, but I think he was secretly smiling behind his book.
From page 56 of The Selection by Kiera Cass.
"Maybe we shouldn't go," Jonathan repeated. "Maybe we shouldn't tell what happened. Yet."
"Do you really want to do this?" She wagged her finger between them. "A battle of wits? It's not even fun to destroy you because you're too dim to understand you're getting destroyed."
My fingers curl into the door frame so tightly it's a wonder they don't pierce the wood. But I can do it, one whole foot outside my front door, without my chest getting tight.
From page 24 of Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along, so I thought I would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading. Happy Reading!
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner is told by three teens starting their senior year in high school in a small town. Dill, Lydia and Travis take turns telling the way this book goes. They all have different family relationships. What they do have in common is a strong bond of friendship.
I enjoyed all the three teens very much. This book kept me interested throughout and has a very good ending.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart, my favorite children’s author, is about boys at Slabhenge Reformatory School for troubled boys located on an island and run with torture techniques. Jonathan is the new boy sentenced to 10 weeks which is longer than usual because of the bad thing he did. Jonathan is overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and believes he deserves to be there, unlike the others. A couple boys befriend him and eventually he even wins over the bully who bosses everyone around when all the grownups running the place meet an unfortunate death.
This book is dark but not as dark as Lord of the Flies although there are some similarities. I liked this book because of the exploration of group dynamics, the interaction and growth among the boys, and also because of the suspense. I even got to like that huge rat that Jonathan mistook for a cat. Jonathan is a great character who I admired because he was so kind and compassionate throughout the book. I would recommend this book to boys, but don’t think too many girls would enjoy it since there are no girls in it. I liked both this author’s other books better: The Honest Truth and Some Kind of Courage, because they seemed more believable and not as dark as this one.
SPOILER ALERT – STOP NOW IF YOU INTEND TO READ THIS BOOK. I really liked the librarian and his pet rat. I thought that was a cool surprise and liked how the librarian encouraged Jonathan to take a book every time he came. I was surprised Colin didn’t stay with him when he left the others. There were a few things I felt were farfetched: (1) How all the grownups got electrocuted and died at once; (2) that the boys would put the dead bodies in the freezer where the food would be, yuck!; (3) that the first thing they did wasn’t to all join in to destroy the sinner’s sorrow torture device that they all hated; (4) I didn’t understand why Sebastian got so mad at Colin when he left since at the beginning he announce the boys to go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. When Colin took some chocolates saying they were just Sebastian’s, I was surprised the other boys didn’t back him up and (5) how the majority just followed whatever Sebastian said, letting him take the lead instead of following Colin or Jonathan, who were smarter and nicer, especially at the end.
(Karen’s review, 4 stars)
Gerard read this first 1-9-17, here's his review, 4.5 stars: In Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart, Jonathan is the new boy at Slabhenge. It is a reform school for boys who are troubled to say the least. Now Jonathan is there and he is happy to be there. But soon he will have to make decisions that will affect him and his fellow boys. I really enjoyed the characters in this book. It has good action and the end has a good twist. I liked this author's first two books better, The Honest Truth and Some Kind of Courage, but this one is not bad at all!
Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!
In The Unseen World by Liz Moore, Ada is 12 years old and works with her dad and his associate in a lab. Ada is very smart. When her dad becomes forgetful and wanders off, Ada tries her best to take care of him. Soon though, he needs more help than Ada alone can give. Now she must go out in the world and deal with school and everyday things in life that she never had to deal with before. She learns things that will question just about everything that Ada thought to be true!
I thought Ada was a great character and loved watching her grow up. I got into this book early. The story moved along okay and I always wanted to get back into it! I also enjoyed this author's first book, Heft.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani is a juvenile fantasy book. I really liked the cover and was looking forward to a quick fun read which it is. Sophie and her friend, Agatha, both get mysteriously kidnapped from their small village to The School for Good and Evil in some distant place. They both think they got put in the wrong school side of the school though and encounter the fight of the life to remain friends. Both girls find themselves living a fairy tale!
I think children would like this book but I was a bit disappointed in it because it really made no sense to me. There is a lot of action and magic going on; however, I found it a bit hard to follow. I liked it enough to care about the main characters, although I really liked Agatha the most and didn’t care much for Sophie, even from the start. I did want to see how it would end and liked the ending.
(Karen’s review, 3 stars)
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