Month: February 2013

Mini-Reviews: What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Posted February 28, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 11 Comments

Title –  What’s Left of Me (The Hybrid Chronicles #1)
Author – Kat Zhang
Genre – Young Adult, Dystopia
Publisher – HarperCollins
Pages – 343
Source – NetGalley

“Addie was warm and radiant next to me, making up half of us. But I – I was Eva, Eva, Eva, all the way through.”

It’s been a long time coming to get to read this book. I was in a quandary what to read at the time; something easy, romantic, contemporary possibly, but Kat Zhang’s What’s Left of Me screamed to me on my Kindle. The concept of the plotline was so fresh and unique that I never seizes to amaze how dystopians can be quite unlike you have ever read before. Addie and Eve are two souls in one body roaming the streets of present day. Classification; Hybrid! The society doesn’t except them both remaining in the same body at the age of 16. They should have settled leaving one, the more dominant to take control. However, Eva lurked around always seeing through Addie’s eyes but never being her… and that can be very frustrating as the character and as the reader.When Addie is invited to Hally’s house one day, there life completely changed, leaving them in a state of flux between two persona’s  neither one having any real control over their identities any more.

Kat Zhang’s debut novel reminded me of the essence of being a twin. I was that essence of being a twin, once. Sharing with another must be frustrating  difficult  to contend with such diverse personalities. What I loved was that no matter who was dominating the situation you would observe from Eva’s perspective, her thoughts and feeling would be more personified than those of Addie’s. Though in all honesty is it weird to say that I preferred Eva to Addie?!

Unlike many Young Adult dystopian’s that I have read, the concept is a contender. Kat’s premise of the plotline was very well written and the pace of the novel wasn’t too fast or slow, but just right for the build up of the novel. Despite my best intentions to read this book in quickly, it took me a week to read due to my work, but that didn’t reduce the rating of this book! There’s only one question that left me… How is this story going to progress! I will be intrigued to find out!

Rating: 4

Title – The Fault in Our Stars
Author – John Green
Genre – Young Adult
Publisher – Penguin Books
Pages – 312
Source – Library

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”

This is a highly anticpated novel of the year and Goodreads Book Choice of 2012. I’ve been very reluctant reading this book because of its hype as I generally don’t enjoy them as much as I desperately want to.

John Green’s novel are legend, they may be extreme, blunt and unlike anything you may have read before though they show on crucial thing that people let by, realism. Books maybe to escape reality and immerse yourself into something untold, beautiful and strange yet John has this skill to create such truth and love into one that it changes your concept of this novel.

Hazel, diagnosed with  Stage IV thyroid cancer, at the age of 13 has had no easy life. Walking around with her oxygen tank oblivious to the natural of order of things, Hazel has become susceptible to the people around her for too long and now she wants to be independent  to live an to love. Hazel’s character is just astonishing, her pain, her health and her life has been suspended by something that is part of her. I personally don’t like to dwell on the fact that I found it hard at times to contend with her. Her bluntness it what fears me, she doesn’t beat around the bush about death or the near-death experiences that she has has to battle with. She just lives with it and I think I envy her for that. Augustus was part of the Support Group and the instant he saw Hazel, he knew. He is the symbol of normal that Hazel wants. He has such a kind and comical nature that its hard not to burst out laughing at times.

This has been a very controversial book across the world as its been classed as ‘sick-lit’. I completely disagree! Lucy from the Queen of Contemporary has had her say the Daily Mail and it was very influential piece of what books now-a-days have an impact on the younger readers. John Green holds a message, that even I can’t describe. Cryptic I know, I would pick it up now if you haven’t, you really can’t miss out on this beautifully written story.

Rating: 4
Thank you to HaprerCollin’s providing a copy of What’s Left of Me for an honest review.

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Showcase Sunday (#18)

Posted February 24, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 19 Comments
Showcase Sunday (#18)

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea. Its an opportunity to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week Wow! Its been a weird couple of weeks and I haven’t had a chance to review or showcase some the beautiful books I have received over the past few weeks! I’ve been very busy with my YA Display which you can see here, so thank you to all the contributed and helped! For […]

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YA Display

Posted February 20, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 10 Comments
YA Display

Hello guys!  First I would like to say Thank you for your contributions to my Display and helping my choose the YA Books! I couldn’t believe the response as well! Also Thank you to those who I have contacted about Summary Statements of their books that they have chose; Jessica at BookedUp Sophie at A Day Dreamers World Kyra at Blog of a Bookaholic Lucy at Queen of Contemporary Zoe at Bookhi Rebecca at Rebecca-Books Rebekah – The Reflective Bookworm Jasprit – The Readers Den Henrietta – The Leisure Reads Shirley – Shirleey’s Bookshelf Aa’Ishah – Reading Under the Stars […]

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My BRAND New Graphic Site!

Posted February 18, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 123 Comments
My BRAND New Graphic Site!

Hello guys, I have some brilliant news for you all… I have now started a brand new graphic site called The Graphicness. I have been very invisible over my priorities of my book blog recently because I have been setting up this website plus My portfolio… So I look forward to writing more reviews in the next coming weeks! I’ve been designing graphics for about year since using PicMonkey and then I upgraded to Photoshop in September of last year! But first before I say anything about the type of graphics I design I would like to say a MASSIVE Thank you […]

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Cover Reveal/Waiting on Wednesday (#16)

Posted February 13, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 12 Comments
Cover Reveal/Waiting on Wednesday (#16)

Title: Teardrop (Teardrop #1) Author: Lauren Kate Genre: YA Fantasy Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Release Date: October 22nd 2013 Summary: Never, ever cry. . . . Eureka Boudreaux’s mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn’t, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before. But Ander doesn’t know Eureka’s darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, […]

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300 Follower’s Giveaway Winner!

Posted February 10, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 1 Comment
300 Follower’s Giveaway Winner!

Hello, all! Sorry for the delay on the winner. Its been manic at college at the moment, hence not a lot of posts! Thank you so much for all the entries, comments and the new followers I gained from it! This is my first Giveaway … So I was a little scared of what to do… but it was fairly staightforward! Haha. So without further ado… Drumroll please…… Zoe C… You are my winner! Congratulations!  And a MASSIVE Thank you to all that entered!

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Promo: Manipulation by Jolene Perry

Posted February 5, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 3 Comments
Promo: Manipulation by Jolene Perry

Title: Manipulation (Shadows #2)Author: Jolene PerryRelease Date: January 2013Format: Paperback/e-book Summary from Goodreads: Addison Prince has almost always gotten what she wants.Dean Courser only wants to find his brother, but it’s the one thing he’s failed at… Even with his unusual ability. Dean and Addison share the gift of Manipulation—a brief touch that forces others to do what they wish. But when they meet and realize their connection, they find more questions than answers. Suddenly Dean is seeing shadows move on their own, and Addison is learning her father’s mysterious group may know more about her abilities than he’s ever let […]

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Calling ALL Book Bloggers…

Posted February 3, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 23 Comments
Calling ALL Book Bloggers…

I NEED YOUR HELP! As you may know I’m a part-time Librarian aside from my other work and college studies during the week. As part of my many duties at the library I was inspired to do a display based on YA Books, from a range of genres; Contemporary to Paranormal.   But that means I would need to chose them and I wouldn’t even know where to start. So that’s where you come in… I’ve had so many great opportunities reading the books your recommend and love and now I need you to chose. List your TOP 3 YA […]

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Blog Tour – Indigo Awakening by Jordan Dane

Posted February 2, 2013 by Emma in Blog / 3 Comments
Blog Tour – Indigo Awakening by Jordan Dane

Welcome to my stop on the Indigo Awakening blog tour hosted by YA Bound.  Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule! Title: Indigo Awakening Series: The Hunted, #1 Author: Jordan Dane Published: Harlequin Teen Release Date: 12/18/12 Format: Paperback/e-book, 304 pages Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down. Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate […]

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