Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

8490112Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Published: September 27th 2011 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
read in: January, 2016
Series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

young adult • paranormal/urban fantasy • romance


“Have you ever asked yourself, do monsters make war, or does war make monsters?”

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.

When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?


book-review

This book has been laying in my TBR pile for quite some time. I had tried to read it once two years ago but I got into around a couple pages and put it on hold. I wasn’t into Paranormal genre that day and when I started reading the book, I realized that Laini Taylor has an amazing way of putting words that I know it wouldn’t be a fast read. With how beautiful and carefully written the book is, my mood back then wasn’t doing a good job getting into the story. After a while and many Paranormal books I read, this book has finally came around again.

Read More »

6 Requirements to be the Perfect Night Owl

1432294724-owl-funny-gif

Whether you read books regularly or not, night time is always the best when it comes to reading. When all the lights in our house are off and all the family members asleep, we could always find comfort in reading in bed.

Though it sounded easy, not all books are worth the time to reduce our sleeping hours at night. So here are some tips to mastering the perfect night owl spirit.

p.s. read at your own risk!


Read More »

10 Types of Reading Spirit You Might Possess

Reading is a fun thing to do where everyone—if given the right book—could enjoy it in many different ways. Some like to read like there’s no tomorrow, while others enjoy reading it slow and relaxing. Every person tend to know what type of reader he/she is, but to those who still trying to figure out what kind of reading spirit possesses you, then you need this. You probably possess one of the below, but if you like me, then you have them all hiding in different alter egos.

I’m not trying to label anyone. This post is just for fun and based on my own observation, so there’s no need to be offensive, McGonagall!

1. The Book Face Creature

belle-books-gif

Here’s to all the reader with their nose stuck in a book EVERY SINGLE TIME. You see them at the corner of a coffee shop. You see them in the diner and restaurants, but not their face. Their like a faceless ghost. And their Everywhere. When you meet them, DO NOT . . I repeat DO NOT SAY HELLO. Just let them be and you’ll be just fine. These people are either fighting in The Hunger Games of learning spells to defeat Voldemort. And God forbid you ruining these poor faceless creature’s world.

*Note to authors: If you see us, please come by and say hello. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED!

2. The ‘Silent Treatment’ Guru

silent20treatment

Nope. Not talking. You’re the type to easily stop reading whenever shit happens. Plot Twist? You’re done. Close the book and wait a few days until all the feelings calm down. If not? DNF and just start finding a new relationship.

*Note to authors: Please record your message after the tone. *beep*

3. The Pissed Off Girlfriend a. k. a Jack the Ripper

13791594

Yup! This is you. The ‘Thrower’. The ‘Slammer’. Even scarier, The ‘Ripper’. You most likely finish the book you’re reading, but you pour out all the emotion LITERALLY, either because it sucked or you hate the plot twist.

*Note to authors: DO NOT EXPECT ME TO LOVE YOU WHEN MY FAVORITE CHARACTER DIES! Psst. At least, make sure the cover is so pretty that we wouldn’t dare to hurt it. 

4. The Silent Killer

Calm and collected, I would say. You flip every pages smoothly. If anyone sees you reading, they will obviously thought you love the book, until you write the review . . . SHIT! Take cover everyone!

giphy

*Note to authors: May the force be with you . . .

5. The One-Night-Stand Lover

night-day

You have a very big question in your life, “What time is it? Is it morning already?”. You tend to read at night and you finish the entire book in one sitting. Because, hello? What if the world crashes in the morning? No, we can’t have that ruining our book. Let’s finish this right here right now!

*Note to authors: I would buy more of your books, but. . COFFEE PLEASE!

6. The Indecisive Chameleon

You seemed in the mood for paranormal stuff. After a few pages, you’re mood is switching to contemporary. Or not. Biography is the one. or is it?

f46dwqy

You can’t set up your mind to what you’re going to read. It’s hard for you to pick up a book and stick with it, either because the last book you read traumatize you or it was really good that you afraid the next one will ruin the feeling.

*Note to authors: It’s not our fault your book don’t have EVERY genre inside, thank you.

7. The Bat-eared Fox

2-5

You are all the ears. Audiobook is your go to. You are super busy to sit down and read, you rather have someone else read it for you. Cooking? Audiobook on. Driving? Let’s continue. Sleeping? Where’s my bedtime story?

*Note to authors: is Morgan Freeman available?

8. The Analyst

c9e

You don’t know what you like to read. You only want to read what others do. You have more time to read the review than actually reading the book. Open Goodreads. 3 stars review? Nah! You need higher than 4 out of 5 stars. You surf the internet, blog after blog to decide the next book you’re going to read. You don’t have time for a non hype book.

*Note to authors: is it so hard to write a FIVE STAR WORTH READING book? Stop playing around and just do your job!

9. The Improviser

14656818

Okay, you love the plot but the execution was bad. Then the idea of how the story should be kicks in. You are the type that consider reading as researching. You tend to change the story the way you like and either write a fanfiction or write a book inspired by the one you read before.

*Note to authors: I’m sorry but yours is . . err. . okay? Why didn’t you think of this? *spreading  out blueprints*

10. The Laidback Feline

mnqup

You love to read, but you don’t have the energy to do it for hours. You probably read around 10 pages a day and slowly enjoying the story every day. You can not be rushed or the story will be lost somewhere in the mist. You can easily stop at any page because you know it’s just a book and you can come back whenever you want.

*Note to authors: Why is there so many 600 pages book out there?


There you go. I hope I covered most of the reader type out there. If not, than you probably a rare species sent from above to color the world of literature.

Book Review: Evertrue by Brodi Ashton

13626692Title: Evertrue
Author: Brodi Ashton
Published: January 21st 2014 by Balzer + Bray
read in: January, 2017
Series: Everneath #3

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

young adult • paranormal • mythology/legend • romance


“Immortality is time. It’s not something you live for. That’s like saying you live for living longer. Don’t you see the fault in that thinking? You just told me when you live for”

Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself… which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die.

Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?


READ MY REVIEW OF EVERNEATH & EVERBOUND

book-review

The hardest part of having such strong start in a series are how to end it. I finish the entire series of Everneath in a single day. All three of the books. I was so eager to know how it will all came to an end because the first two books took a grip on me that I couldn’t sit back and stop. Like I said in my previous review, Everbound had taken a very amazing spin to the story which lead me to wander all the possibilities of how the story was going to continue. Now that I finish the last book, I had to say it failed to keep its predecessor proud.

Read More »

Book Review: Everbound by Brodi Ashton

13115995Titile: Everbound
Author: Brodi Ashton
Published: January 22nd 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc
read in: January, 2017
Series: Everneath #2

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

young adult • paranormal • romance


“A funeral is easy compared to the day after the funeral.”

Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.


READ MY REVIEW OF EVERNEATH #1

book-review

Everneath was such a great book that I couldn’t let Everbound to lay around the corner of my shelf without knowing what had happened to the characters. And this time—less doubting—I had so many expectation in the second book.

Read More »

Top Ten Tuesday #10: 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn’t Get To

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!


Today’s issue: Top Ten 2016 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn’t Get To

Gemina ♛ Aerie ♛ The Midnight Star ♛ Replica ♛ A Gathering of Shadows ♛ Paper and Fire ♛ The Hidden Oracle


What are the 2016 releases that you didn’t yet read?

Book Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

9413044 Titile: Everneath
Author: Brodi Ashton
Published: January 24th 2012 by Balzer + Bray
read in: January, 2017
Series: Everneath #1

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

young adult • paranormal • romance


“In the absence of proof, all that matters is perception.”

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, her boyfriend—before she’s banished back to the underworld . . . this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance—and the one person she loves more than anything. But there’s just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he’ll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki’s time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole’s queen.


book-review

2017 started as a great reading year. Most of the book I read so far, got me some serious sleepless night, all because I was finishing them one by one in one sitting. I’ve been so productive—at reading and not at things I was suppose to do—this past few days of January, despite the biggest reading slump I had in the end of 2016. One of the book that kept me reading was Everneath. I started this book because I was so in love with My Lady Jane—which Brodi Ashton co-wrote—and I then track down all the books the authors previously wrote. Well, after Fever series, I was so excited for another Paranormal genre.Read More »

SERIEouS TALK: Fever series #1-5 by Karen Marie Moning

DarkfeverSeries: Fever (#1-5)
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Year: 2006-2011
Books: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever
read in: December, 2016

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

adult • fantasy • paranormal • romance 


When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death—a cryptic message on MacKayla Lane’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed—a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae.


series-talk

… SPOILER FREE …

Darkfever has been laying on the bottom of my never-ending TBR pile for quite some time until last month. What can I say; before this book, paranormal weren’t my game at all, especially when added with those freaky unappealing cover the book had. Looking at the cover, I literally thought it was a shitty erotica stuff going on inside. Well, how wrong I was. .

Read More »