Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Good afternoon all! 

I am wishing you all a very happy 2014!!!!!! Are you gonna party tonight?

I was on bloglovin yesterday, which I use for reading other people's blogs and someone posted a question about what our new years traditions are. This got me thinking and we dutch people have some traditions. We are aloud to fire our own fireworks which is awesome! I know in lots of countries your are not aloud to do that yourself, but we can!  It is very pretty because there is fireworks all around!  
Another Dutch tradition are Oliebollen! The only think I can compare them to are donuts, but they are denser then donuts. I thought it would be cool to share an oliebollen recipe with you! 

So now you might want to know what an oliebol looks like, so here it is!


Now that we know what they look like I will tell you what you need to make them! 

Ingredients: 
750 grams of flower 
1 tablespoon of salt
2 eggs
35 grams of butter
10 grams of dried yeast
750 ml of milk
400 grams of raisins (optional, if you don't like raisins you can leave them out) 
Icing sugar

Tools: 
1 big wok pan or a deep fryer
1 big spoon or Ice scoop
Mixer
3 big bowls

1. Put the flower and salt in a large bowl.
2. mix the yeast, the milk and the sugar until the yeast and sugar are dissolved and add it to the flower and salt.
3. Add the eggs to the mixture and mix it until it smooth.
4. Lastly add the melted butter to the mix, mix it until it is smooth.
5. Put the mixture in to large mixing bowl and cover them with a warm dishtowel put them somewhere warm so it can rise for about an hour.
To bake the oliebollen you will need either a deepfryer or a wokpan and sunflower oil. Warm the oil until 160 Celsius.  Take a big spoon or ice scoop and let the batter glide into the the hot oil, because oliebollen are round they will probably turn by themselves but if not turn them when the edges are goldenbrown. If the whole oliebol is goldenbrown take it out and let it cool.
When cooled  you can sprinkle some icing sugar on them.

Enjoy!!!!  For the Canadians/Americans living near to a dutch store you might find an easier way to make oliebollen by buying the mix which you can find in a Dutch store here's what it looks like: 

Monday, December 30, 2013

The End Of The Year Survey ~ Book blogging Life












So here's part 2 of the End of the Year Survey!!!  Find part 1 here.
1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2013? 
I am new to the bookblogasphere so I discovered a lot of new blogs, my favorite is also my dream blog and one of the biggest book blogs out there: Parajunkee!  I also enjoy a lot of smaller blogs please read my Liebster nomination post for those they could all use some followers!


2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2013?
I love all the reviews I have written but I love my longest the best of course this is my review for Divergent!

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?
I don’t have many discussion on my blog, mostly reviews and book promotion, but in May I had a little rant about Language Etiquettes and of course my weekly musical meme where I discuss music here my highlights:

Swinging Saturdays ~ top 5 Dutch songs
Swinging Saturdays ~ Halloween Edition

4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?
Well Nitzan of Drugs Called Books has here Bookish Discussions which I enjoy very much here are two I enjoyed:


5. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
MANUSCRIPTA:
Physical event: Manuscripta! I got to chat with Mrs Tatiana de Rosnay!!!  Which was awesome, there were lots of reading too! All in all it was a really interesting day!


FEED MY READS AND FRIENDS:
I also participated in a virtual event on Facebook: Feed My Reads And Friends I met a lot of new friends and authors. I got to host an hour on this event which was fun. There were some interesting discussions too! I liked the fact that we got to meet authors and chat with them about books and random stuff. If you want to join the Feed My Read family follow us on Twitter! Via FeedMyReadsNL you can also find all the other accounts such as country or area specific accounts!


6. Best moment of book blogging/your book life in 2013? 
Uh, reaching 400 likes on my Facebook page, becoming Moderator at one of my favorite Good reads group Jonge Nederlandse Lezers. Also I am proud to being ask to run Feed My Reads The Netherlands! Come join us at twitter @FeedMyReadsNL. Also checkout the other accounts you can find them at my follows. Also being nominated for a Liebster award (3 times) and a Shine On award was pretty awesome. It is nice to know that your blog is appreciated by others :)


7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Most pageviews: Before The Moon Rises 
(I still haven't got a clue why this post got the most views it's not my most impressive review or anything.)

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
I would say all of my posts could use more love, but that is not fair. I would love to see more interaction and more love for my Swining Saturdays posts. I love doing my top 5’s but I would also love to hear what you think of them or what your top 5 would be.

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
GOODREADS
I told you that I was a newbie so lets start with Goodreads, which I love! Goodreads is fun because you can keep track of what you are reading, you meet awesome people/bookbloggers from all over the world. And the discussion are very interesting.

AMAZON
 I also discovered Amazon this year, and the reading apps also that every Amazon has a lot of free ebook you can get! Not that I don’t want to buy books but this was also a year I didn’t have any money to spend on fun stuff. So Amazon came in handy to satify my reading addiction.

HET BOEKENFESTIJN
Another bookish discovery for me was: Het Boekenfestijn. A dutch event at which you can buy books for discount prices! They also had a large amount of English books available so happy me! You can find my haul here.

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? 
Yes I love participating in reading challenges, when I didn’t work full time I could read around 5 books a month. I mostly participated on the monthly challenges at my Goodreads groups. The once I loved the most were on The Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Group.
Ja ik heb aan verschillende uitdagingen mee gedaan toen ik nog niet full time werkte. Toen kon ik rond de 5 a 10 boeken per maand lezen. Ik deed vaak mee aan de maandelijkse uitdagingen op The Paranormal Romance en Urban Fantasy groep op Goodreads.









1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014?
Insurgent and Allegiant! and also Catching Fire & Mocking Jay! I think I will have to do a dystopian month next year :) 

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)?
These are really difficult questions, you know? But a book that has been smashed in my face for awhile btw it is the most popular book of 2013, I think (since it has started to haunt me) I have to go with the Fault In Our Stars by John Green. As for 2014 I am looking forward to the 3 book in the Dreamers series by Allie Jean! I know she is writing it (she told me on twitter) so that will be my most anticipating read for 2014!

3. 2014 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? Het debuut waar je naar uit kijkt?
So I have no clue of what we can expect in 2014, so I went on Goodreads listopia, after not being satisfied on there resumed  my search on Netgalley. Two books caught my eye: Alienated and Defy. I have come across Alienated on various blogs and really like the idea. Defy sounds a bit like Mulan, which was a movie I really loved when I was younger, who am I kidding? I still love that movie!

4. Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2014? Einde van een serie waar je naar uit kijkt?
Well for a couple of year I have been patiently waiting on the last book in the Night world series by L.J. Smith. I am a big fan of her work, I have almost all her books (I am only missing Forbidden Game). I really hope we will get some new work of her in 2014.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014?
  1. Read more
  2. Turn Swinging Saturdays into a meme 
  3. I am also thinking about participating more in meme such as Feature & Follow, Truth or Dare, Stacking The Shelves
  4. Get through my review request reads and my galleys ( I will be posting this list later)
  5. I hope to reach 200 followers on bloglovin (that would be wicked!)
  6. Another import thing is getting my Bachelor degree in International Business and Languages! I only have to take 1 test (Spanish) which I failed twice! So I hope, wish, beg to get it right this time!

Sunday, December 29, 2013

The End Of The Year Survey ~ Best book of 2013

Hello everyone!
I found this survey on one of the blogs I follow and decided that this would be a fun way to close this year. I will post this survey in three parts, else it would have been really long! This survey is hosted by The perpetual Page-Turner.
Here are the best books of 2013!
FIND PART 2 HERE



1. Best Book You Read In 2013?                                
Well the best book I read this year is definitely Divergent by Veronica Roth! I also support Indie authors, because they also write great books, the best Indie book of this year for me was Prelude by Kasonndra Leigh, this book was an emotional roller coaster and made me cry on various occasions. 



2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? 
That’s easy I was really excited about Hush Hush, I love the cover it is one of the prettiest covers I have on my shelf, but the book was a total let down for me. You can read my review here.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013?
There are 2 book that were a complete surprise for me: Jenny Pox by J.L. Bryan and Legacy of a Dreamer by Allie Jean. They blew me away, Jenny Pox turnout to be my first horror and Legacy of a Dreamer (my first ever book tour review) must have been on of the biggest surprises of the year for me, it was so good that I wanted to reread it immediately after I finished.

 4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013? 
The book I recommended the most was Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall. And it started a little trend on the GoodReads group I am active in. It was fun to watch other people starting to read it after my recommendation.

5. Best series you discovered in 2013?
This is a hard question, almost all the books I read in 2013 were firsts in a series, but I haven’t read the seconds yet. I did discover some great series such as The Caster Chronicles, Jolie Wilkins series and Splintered series (which I really want to get my hands on in 2014!).

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?
Jo-Anna Walker! I received an ARC of her debut novel Break Me and I was hooked! I love her writing style and when she asked for people to join her street team I signed up immediately!

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you? 
I had many firsts this year but the book that was way out of my comfort zone is anything with Zombies. But I changed my opinion about zombies when I finished Mortality by Kellie  Sheridan now I am craving for more post apocalyptic books. I will definitely read more of those in 2014.

 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?
Well of course Divergent! I could not put it down! Another one was Beneath The Surface by M.A. Stacie! Loved it to bits!
  
 9. Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I think I will re-read Leopard Moon by Jeanetta Batista because I really want to continue the series, and it has been awhile since I read it!

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?

11. Most memorable character in 2013?
That will be the 9 year old Starla from Whistling Past The Graveyard

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
Talking about Whistling Past The Graveyard, it not only had the most memorable character but also was the most beautifully written book I read this year.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
Well this has been another rough year for me, after I broke up with my boyfriend of 7 years I read a book for a book tour called My Mr. Manny, which seems to be describing my own situation. It had a huge impact on me, because it was really confronting.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read?
Uh…. Well again Divergent! I can’t believe I waited so long to get it! Also The Colour of Magic by the great Terry Pratchett was one of those books!

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2013?
From Whistling Past the Graveyard (this one makes you think): 

"Same reason some white folks slam the door when the see I'm colored Some folks don't see nothin' but your skin. It ain't right, but it's the way people are." ~ Eula to Starla 

From Mortality (I laughed for about half an hour when I read this quote): 

“Ahh, so it is the Asian guy. Bummer. Well I’m sure you two will be very happy together, and make many zombie-ass-kicking babies.” - Cole 

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?
Do short stories count? Lol, this is another one of my firsts, short stories, I read about three or four this year 2 stood out: In The Heart of Yesterday by Jo-Anna Walker and All Over You by Emily Snow (I thought I was going to melt into a gooey mess).
The longest book I read (had to look it up at Goodreads) was Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and  Margaret Stohl with 563 pages.


 17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) 
Yes, in Break Me the ending! I thought I was going to die! OMG I wanted to scream and shout throw something against the wall and then again scream nooooooooo not him! And don’t die please! Then I was like why?? Why take him?

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
What first comes to mind are Holder and Sky (Hopeless) even though I haven’t finished this book yet (shame on me I know) but it was a little to much to read for me at the time.

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously.
The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. I read Succubus Blues which was one of my better reads in 2012, then I bought The Vampire Academy and fell in love with Dimitri.

20. Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else: 
Mortality by Kellie Sheridan! Thank you for recommending it Gabby!!!! 


21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?
Uh I think Contemporary Romance and Paranormal Romance/Fantasy are my most read genres.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013? 
The Mad Hatter! from Her Mad Hatter and Kyran from Beneath The Surface.

23. Best 2013 debut you read?
I will have to go with Bitter Fruits  by Sarah Daltry on this one! I read this in one night which is something I don’t usually do. When I finish I looked at the clock and it was 6 in the morning (oops).

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
Legacy Of A Dreamer! I thought the monsters were coming out of the shadows of my room too! I turned on the lights at some point! LOL

25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?
Uh, took me a minute to think of a fun read, most fun to read was Fire Burn Cauldron Bubble by H.P. Mallory. This book was hilarious! I almost forgotten about it, but it was a really fun read!

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?
There were many books that made me cry this year, I cried the most reading My Mr. Manny. But Beneath The Surface, Break Me and In The Heart Of Yesterday all made me cry at some point to!

27. Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out?
I don’t know if it is overlooked but a book that I really enjoyed and want to recommend to all sporty romance readers who enjoy a strong female lead is Offside by Juliana Stone.

Hope you have enjoyed part 1 of the End of the year survey.
Did you fill out the survey? 
Feel free to leave your in the comment section.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Books: Blue Bloods ~ Melissa De La Cruz

Title: Blue Bloods
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Series: Blue Bloods Book #1
Publishing date: 27 Maart 2007
Publisher: Hyperion
Number of pages: 302 p.
Age category: Young Adult
Language: English, German, French a.o. languages
Other books in this series:
* Masquerade book #2
 * Revelations book #3
 * The Van Alen Legacy book #4
 * Misguided Angel book #5
 * Lost in Time book #6
 * Gates of Paradise book #7



About Blue Bloods

Schuyler Van Alen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapidated mansion. 

Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?

My review

I expected a lot of this book, it has a lot of high reviews and I heard a lot about it. But I was a little disappointed, a little bit like the way I felt about reading Hush Hush. Maybe I shouldn't read as many reviews for bestsellers, because this is the second time my expectations were high and the book did not live up to those expectations.

This was another slow read, the book finally took of when Schuyler finds out the truth about her heritage (which is somewhere in the second half of the book). The first half of the book was not really  exciting not much happend which made it hard to pull through.

The second half of the book is were it got interesting, the whole new vampire world build in this book is a refreshing change in the world of vampires we living. These is a whole new brand of vampires and I would love to read more about it in the second book.

What kept me reading was the excellent language use, the choice of words made some of the sentences almost poetic. Also the choice of words changed with the time and the person who spoke. Which gave great dimension to the characters. Which would have been very one dimensional otherwise.

I hope that the second book in the series, speeds up a bit and I hope that the characters are more developed. I am looking forward to the next book because I am curious about what it might bring.

My rating

Because this book was very enjoyable, the writing style is phenomenal but the first half of the book was pretty slow, which was utterly disappointing. I could put this book down very easily and my expectations were way to high. So this leads to an average book which means I give this three skaters!


Music: Lorde ~ Royals

I finished this book a while ago, and then I didn't have a song for it, then I looked up the lyrics (something I often do) to Royals by Lorde and thought of Schuyler. So here it is!


Buy the series on Amazon

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!! To All my awesome followers! Thank you so much for following and I hope you all have a great Christmas! 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Books: Pentimento ~ Cameron Jace ~ promo


Title: Pentimento
Author: Cameron Jace
Publication date: December 20th, 2013

About Pentimento

The day Iris Beaumont turns seventeen, she is threatened to be taken by the Beasts, the rulers of the new America. After the destruction of the world, the Beasts provide citizens with whatever they need in exchange for the one teenage girl they enslave every week.

They call them the Brides, and they never comes back. Iris isn’t the worrying type though; she’s been defying the system since she was ten and never cared for the Beast’s rules. Then she meets Colton Ray, who is not like any other boy she’s ever seen. His confidence and dominance are otherworldly she can’t rationalize the attraction she feels for him. Colton had one slight problem though. It’s rumored he is one of the Beast, and Iris could be the next on the Beast’s list.

Buy it here:

About Cameron Jace

Wonderlander, Neverlander, Unicorn-chaser, enchanter, musician, survived a coma, & totally awesome. Sometimes I tell stories. Always luv the little monsters I write young adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and science fiction mostly.

The Grimm Diaries series is a seven book saga that deals with retellings of fairy tales from a young adult POV - it connects most of the fairy tales together and claims to be the truth about fairy tales. I live in San Fransisco and seriously think circles are way cooler than triangles.

Interview with Cameron Jace

1. What inspired you to write another Beauty and the Beast retelling when there are a Beauty and a Beast in your Grimm Diaries series? 

Well, first of all, it’s a totally different Beauty and the Beast. It’s a dystopian story that came to me after learning what about the art of Pentimento.

2. So what is a Pentimento? 

Pentimento is a painter’s term. It’s when you discover that an older painting had been originally drawn underneath the one you see right now. It’s a very interesting concept, and it’s true. The painter decides to change his painting midways, and then paints the new one above it. It happened a lot with great artists like Picasso and others in the past, mainly because they didn’t have enough money to buy a new canvas. Interesting enough, usually the new painting peel off and thins with age, and older one surfaces back. It has a great significance in the book.

3. Can you give us an example of a real Pentimento Case in life? 

Of course. Fragonard’s painting The Fountain of Love. Which is featured in the story. Here is a Youtube link to a video that explains the whole concept.




4. Why dystopian? 

I have been pondering the idea of dystopian fairy tales for a long time. After the Grimm Diaries has been successful for connecting fairy tales with real world characters and events, I thought why not try a dystopian fairy tale. I didn’t know how to do it until Pentimento’s idea came to me.


5. The cover for Pentimento looks sexy. What do you rate the book? 
Fairly PG. It’s a family friendly and it’s geared toward young adults, although many non-young-adults beta read it and loved it.

6. Who are the Beasts in the book, really? And why do they take the girls?
Can’t say. Lol. You have to read it. And don’t forget to tell me what you thought of it. I am always open to suggestions and feedback.

7. Anything you want to add?
I wish everyone and awesome Christmas and a Fantabulous new year☺

Monday, December 16, 2013

Books: The Cure ~ Stephanie Erickson ~ promo

Title: The Cure
Author: Stephanie Erickson
Publication date: November 14th 2013

About The Cure

“One life will make the difference.” Macey Holsinger has been hearing that promise her whole life. But it hasn’t saved anyone yet, not even her little brother. The disease has claimed countless lives in the last hundred years, and the government is working hard to find a cure through human testing. Testing that has killed nearly as many people as the disease.


At sixteen, Macey has better things to think about than saving lives and submitting to any rule other than her parents’. As a budding artist, she has her whole life ahead of her, at least until she faces her own testing. Questions plague Macey. Questions that make everyone else nervous. How can death be justified with more death? What’s the point of all this? Answers evade her until she’s left with only one question: How much will she sacrifice in the name of the cure?

About Stephanie Erickson

Let's see. What do you want to know about me? I love apocalypse movies like 2012 (which is probably why my first book is sort of apocalyptic), I love to read, I love my fur babies, my husband and my family. 
I'm a graphic designer by trade, but hoping to some day be able to write full time. Dan, my husband, and I are brand new parents and loving life!
As far as writing goes, The Blackout was my first published novel, but I've been writing for quite awhile. I won c mention in the 72nd Annual Writer's Digest Competition for a short story junior year of college, so that was...awhile ago anyway. Although I published a scholarly paper senior year, fiction writing has always been my passion. Can't wait to see what's next!

Guestpost by Stephanie Erickson

5 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before 

5. Everyone and their mother has an opinion 

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has an opinion about your life, your writing, your approach to publishing, your cover art, your book layout, your venue, your promotions, and…well, you get the idea. Learn to filter out the ones who are just being mean because they are jealous, and the ones who are being constructive. That is quite possibly your most valuable tool.

4. Read! 

There seems to be a stark division on this subject. Either people feel writers should devour books like air, or they think you shouldn’t read at all for fear of copying someone else’s idea. Personally, I think the latter is complete hogwash. If you don’t read, how are you supposed to learn and grow as a respectable writer? You can not only get ideas and see how other people are writing, but you can learn grammar, vocabulary, and evolve your style by reading. So, for heaven’s sake read!

3. Write as much as possible 

So, most people will say, “write every day!” but I’m a realist. I know you can’t write every day. But you should write as much as possible. The idea behind the sentiment of “write every day!” is that it’s a priority for those people. Maybe their number one priority. For me, even though it’s not number one on my list, writing is still a priority for me, so I set goals. Usually weekly goals, like I need to write 5,000 words this week to stay on track. And, even if I’m not in the midst of writing a first draft, I still try to write, with stuff like this – blog posts, journal entries, musings etc. Bottom line here: Whatever you write doesn’t have to be Earth shattering. It just has to be words on a page.

2. Never stop learning 

The writing and publishing world is going through a dramatic change right now. If you are dumb enough to refuse to evolve with it then I’m done talking to you. There are a tremendous amount of resources out there, and all you have to do is absorb them. Some of my favorites are Stephen King’s On Writing and David Gaughran’s Let’s Get Visible.

1. Find what works for you I used to be a seat of your pants writer. 

 My first book – The Blackout – was filled with plot holes, changed character names and major issues when I finished with the first draft. So, for The Cure, I tried outlining. The first draft went much better. I had fewer changes, fewer mistakes, and in the end, produced a better book. However, I was flexible with my outline. When inspiration struck me, I went with it and ended up writing several chapters that weren’t included in my outline. I feel like it was a good marriage of outlining and seat of your pants writing. And it worked for me. You might be a little more organized than that, and need to have a 17 page outline before you can even think about writing, or you might just need to start at it when the mood strikes. That’s fine. The important thing is to keep trying different things and do what works for you.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Books: In The Heart Of Yesterday ~ J.M. Walker

Title: In the Heart Of Yesterday
Author: J.M. Walker
Series: A Heart Story #1
Publishing date: 1st, October 2013
Publisher: Freedom Rains Press
Number of pages: 56 p.
Kind of story: Short story
Age category: Young Adult, New adult
Other stories in this series:
- In The Heart Of Now #2
- In The Heart Of Tomorrow #3
- In The Heart Of  Us #4
- Now also available in 1 book
***Note from the author: Due to the mature content and subject of abuse, this book is not intended for younger audiences***

About In The Heart Of Yesterday

Jesse Dawson is a typical seventeen year old girl. She goes to school, gets good grades, and like any other kid, just wants to fit in, blend in and survive high school.
She doesn’t talk about all the crap she has to deal with. Her mom in the hospital and a step-dad from hell.

Rave Black sweeps into her life in the middle of the school year. He’s a dark loner. The quiet kid, and fascinates Jesse. She should stay away from him, but a budding friendship slips into a bond neither of them can deny.

Rumors spread even as they share their secrets with each other.
Can Rave help Jesse learn to open up and trust, or will his personal demons consume them both?

My Review

This was a cute short story, with a lot of emotion!
I loved Rave and Jesse together. And I wanted to kick Jesse's stepfathers ass for making Jesse feel so horrible all the time. And the way he treats Jesse, just horrible!

Oh and then there is Rave oh he is so cute! This short story touched me deeply and I even cried at some point. If you want to read a great short YA story then you should really read this! The characters are really great characters, can't wait to read the next it is great!


Buy the books on Amazon

Friday, December 6, 2013

Books: Dreams of the Cursed ~ Allie Jean

Title: Dreams of the Cursed
Series: Dreamer, boek #2
Author: Allie Jean
Number of pages: 184 p.
Publisher: The Writer's Coffee Shop
Publishing date: 3 Oktober 2013
Language: English only
Age category: Young adult, jong volwassenen
Other books in this series:
Legacy of a Dreamer, boek 1
Remember me doing a blog tour review for the first book in the series? Back in July? No? 
You can read it here: Click here.
 I gave the first book 5 out of 5 skaters! 

It was so exciting! I was so happy when I got the mail form the tour organizer that they were doing the tour for the second book I signed up right away!


About Dreams Of The Cursed

A violent war has waged in secret, underneath the notice of humanity since the beginning of time. Evil has pledged the destruction of humanity in spite of a power those that covet it could not possibly contain. Now the Warriors have inherited this fight and are honor-bound to rid the world of this ancient malevolence. By guarding the most precious, piercing light they possess—their female kin known as the Oracles, or Dreamers—the Warriors have a chance against the darkness.

Chantal Breelan has suffered from horrific nightmares for most of her life, believing something is wrong with her to have such visions of destruction. But when creatures of terror came crawling out of the shadows to hunt her down shortly after her eighteenth birthday, she discovered the truth.

Mathias is a descendant of a Fallen Angel and a powerful Warrior. He vows his life in service to pay recompense for the sins of their fathers by guarding Chantal from within the shadows. With Chantal’s life in danger, he was forced to reveal himself, yet she has managed to surprise him with her fierce tenacity and strength.

Now Chantal has picked up the reins of her birthright and stands by her Warrior kin, by Mathias. She’s on a mission to rescue others like herself. Yet, in this challenge, a battle of wits is exposed. New players are discovered, throwing strategies into question. When the truth comes to light, can Chantal hold her band of brothers together, or will they crumble under the weight of betrayal?

My review

Wow, this book was even better than the first! This book is completely insane! It has the same amount of action as the first, lots of action and an intriguing story. This time we do get to know of the other characters a little better. For example Matthias but also Matthias's brother Titus. 

We also learn a little bit more about Chantal's father Quintus and of course we learn the story of how they fell, and how they cope. I also loved the chemistry between Matthias and Chantal our two main characters. The story was told though various point of views, Chantal, Matthias, Damon (Chantal's evil brother) also we saw the story from one of the new characters. 

My advise: read this book, well if you haven't read the first, go get it right now and start reading! You will not be disappointed! If you are looking for a book full of action, ancient battles between good and evil, a little spirituality (not enough to bother me), love, loyalty, and well developed characters you should really read this. 

Oops I almost sound like some cheap ass commercial or something! I am just so excited about this book, it reads like a movie, the characters are great, there is an equal amount of horror, action, storytelling, and love to keep it interesting. You know those books were you get bored because it is moving very slow? Well this is not one of them! 

Oh I want to share the last thought I had when if finished this: WHAT THE HELL!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!

My rating

Well after all this bragging, praising and ranting here is my rating: 5 skaters!!!!


Music ~ Radiohead 

This is the Warriors song, about being able to move through the shade, I thought this was a fitting song.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Books: Visited ~ Janine Caldwell

Title: Visited
Author: Janine Caldwell
Kind of story: Standalone
Publishing date: 25 Mei 2013
Publisher: self published
Language: English only
Age category: Young Adult
Number of pages: 216 p.
I received an ARC copy of this book from Xpresso Book tours, as part of the Visited blog tour. This however in no way influences my honest opinion. 


About Visited

Seventeen-year-old Joanna Murphy has lost faith in her life. Vying for her mom’s attention, she’s resentful of her stepdad’s intrusion to their family. Her best friend, Tommy, has no clue she’s in love with him as he dates girl after girl without noticing how it tortures her. The final kicker, though, is God’s sick joke to make her freakishly tall when everyone knows boys prefer petite girls.


Then in a bizarre accident Joanna meets James, a breathtaking teen who appears to her after an unusual falling star sighting. Suddenly, her dream for an alien encounter becomes all too real. But when she finds her life has been made unrecognizable, she’s forced into an explosive study of the original design for her life that just may have her regretting every wish she ever made.

 

My review

Warning: this is not going to be one of those praising reviews. So stop reading here if you don't want to know why I didn't like it.

 I really didn't like this book, it was slow, naïve and annoying. I should have stopped reading. Stubborn me didn't agree so I pulled through. And was even more disappointed when I finished. The ending was kind of surprising. I didn't see that one coming, usually this would be a good thing. In this case however, it was not. It was like seeing a delicious desert after a horrible entrée and main course, but after tasting the first mouthful deciding it tasted worse than the entrée and main course all together. That is kind of what I felt like after reading this.

The protagonist Joanna was insecure, awkward and to top it of very naïve. The latter is what bothered me the most throughout the book. Don't get me wrong insecurity and awkward behaviour I am very familiar with. It doesn't always bother me in books, but this was just way too much of all of that which made the book almost unbearable to read. And to add to that it was really slow.

Then there was the ending, Oh My Fr*king God! This must have been the most horrible endings I have ever read! SPOILER ALERT: Really, freaking angels pretending to be aliens! Gosh that is just horrible, horrible! END OF SPOILER :) Don't ever do that to me again, please just put a big: philoshopical/spiritual label on the book for crying out loud. Then I would have passed it by.

The worst of all this is that I signed up for the blog tour myself, I always hope that I can give the author a great review then. Especially after hearing really good things about the author. Also I really do love the cover! It is very pretty! I do hope that the other books of this author are better, because this wasn't it for me.

But don't be discourage by my review, because I also think I am not part of the intended target group. I do recommend this to younger readers age 10 to 16. Why do I recommend it if I didn't like it? Well the general theme of the book is interesting, I think it might appeal better to this target group. I think they can learn some lessons form this book, some morals.

My rating

So for me this is a 2 star book, because I am not the intended audience. Lastly let me say that it is well written, meaning: minor grammar and spelling mistakes....