COVER REVEAL: Allegiant

Coming October 2013!

"A short note about that symbol: no, it is not a faction symbol. It is, however, a symbol that appears in the book. I can't really share more than that-- you'll have to read it for yourself! (I can't wait for that either!)"
-Veronica Roth (veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com)

Divergent-news!

The author Veronica Roth has finally revealed the title of the last book of her Divergent-series.The 3rd one is going to be called Allegiant! It will be in stores on the 22nd of October 2013. Exciting!

She has the killer touch: Shatter me by Tahereh Mafi

Hi! Long time no posts - no worries, been reading alot. Here is a little preview-ish post and thoughts for you:

The latest thing I gave my soul to was Tahereh Mafi's Shatter me. In my opinion Mafi has created some unforgettable characters! The plot is pretty simple; Juliette is a prisoner of the Reestablishment and she has a condition she has born with, her touch hurts and she can accidentally kill people with it.
A soldier is recruited to live in the same space with her 24/7. For Juliette's amusement she knows the soldier - he's Adam! They went to school together and he was the only one who dared to care for her. Does he remember her?
Juliette is amazed by the fact that Adam can touch her without feeling pain. So does someone else. How will they escape their cruel destinies? What is James going to do? What about Warner?

My facts:
Favourite character: Kenji
Character I think is going to evolve alot in the next books: Warner
Most predictable character: Adam (and Juliette)
Sweetest character: James

p.s. Got the 2nd one in the series Unravel me on mail today!

-M

Lil' rant

I'm so mad I cannot get Jennifer L. Armentrout's Shadows anywhere yet! It's so hard to live in Europe sometimes. Waiting anxiously.

-M

COVER REVEAL: Resist by Sarah Crossan

Sarah Crossan tweetet today the cover of Resist, the sequel for her dystopian novel Breathe. Resist will be published October 2013, and I'll be waiting for it! Now, isn't that cover a beauty? :)

 

- H

 

Thoughts on Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire is a good book to read if you like romance, comedy and drama. I don’t know if I would have read it without being convinced and told I should. It didn’t seem my kind of a book at first. In the end I really liked Travis and sometimes Abby wasn’t that bad either. What I really enjoyed was that the book wasn’t the usual YA-book, it didn’t contain supernatural stuff, I liked the more realistic plot.

Travis Maddox is known for his bad temper and countless one night stands. He’s the one guy on the Eastern campus everyone either wants or fears.

Abby Abernathy has moved out of Wichita to study and escape her past. She and her best friend America meet Travis who is America’s boyfriend’s cousin (complicated, huh?).

Travis and Abby become friends, something no one has ever seen Travis do. He has never been friends with a woman before. They study and spent lots of time together and people start questioning their motives and relationship.Things escalate and eventually they admit they can’t just be friends. 

Abby is constantly irritated by Travis’s need to protect her and kind of “mark his territory”.  They break up and make up and everyone seems to be waiting them to end things for real. Travis finds out about Abby’s past and stands by her everywhere she turns.

In the end Beautiful Disaster is a love story, though not the easiest one. It contains real emotions, anticipation and the hopes and fears of the future. I think many university and college students can relate to all those moments and feelings described in the book. McGuire did a good job writing this one.

-M

                                                

More reviews and stuff coming soon!

Sorry we've been busy!

Breathe by Sarah Crossan

Last November I was in London and while visiting the Europe's largest bookstore I stumbled across Sarah Crossan's dystopian novel, Breathe. Breathe was published last October, so it's fairly new book, and I hadn't heard anything about it before. I took a leap of faith and I'm happy that I did.

Breathe is a future dystopian - nothing new or exciting these days when you can find different kind of dystopian novels everywhere. However, Breathe intrigued me; it has breathtakingly beautiful cover and interesting back cover text and very interesting choice of point of view. Also, Breathe is all about something everyone should pay attention to: global warming. Crossan plays with the idea that oxygen levels had plunged in a treeless world - humans destroyed all the trees and speed up global warming and the consequence of it is plunged oxygen levels. Humans can't breathe if there's not enough oxygen, so the pod's were created. However, because the space in the pod's is limited, the state lottery decided who get to live inside and the rest of humankind were left to slowly suffocate outside.

However, life in the pod isn't all about happiness years later when the society has taken a form inside the pod. The Society is divided into Premiums and Auxiliaries; Premiums are the rich ones who has enough money so they can afford all the oxygen they need to have a normal life. Auxiliaries don't have that luxory and they have to work hard pay for oxygen just to survive - they have can't afford most of things Premiums takes for granted like kissing their loved ones or exercising.

Breathe has three main characters: Alina, the auxiliary girl who belongs to the Resistance, a rebel group; Bea, the good auxiliary girl who wants to be part of the leadership programme; and Quinn, the premium boy whose father is important member and friends with the Pod Minister. There's different point of view in different chapters and Crossan had written the characters and chapters so well that you do not get messed up who is who. The characters itself are interesting and I could identify with them easily, especially with Alina. There's also many intriguing supporting characters. Crossan has really succeed of creating an amazing characters who you can identify.

I recommend Breathe for everyone. It might be an young adult book, but I think everyone should read it. Not only because of importance of global warming (which is a serious problem and Crossan has created a world where we didn't stop it, only made it worse), but because it's a good book with great characters. Crossan also has magic in her writing and I couldn't put the book down once I started to read it. This really is dystopian novel you have to read even if you're sick of all these future dystopian books out there. And if you're fed up of all there earth shattering romances? Then Breathe is absolutely for you! There is some romance on Breathe but it doesn't dominate everything else.

There's also one thing that I absolutely love about Breathe: it doesn't locate in the America like so many other future dystopian books. Breathe is located in the Great Britannia, but it also mentions other countries, too. It's nice and fresh!

I'm looking forward to read the sequel! It's coming next autumn.

- H

                                   

I wanted to read this for so long: Legend by Marie Lu

I heard people buzzing about Marie Lu's dystopian novel Legend a good while ago - that's why I thought I really needed to pick it up. I went to the biggest bookstore in Helsinki - and guess what, surprisingly, I found it!
The cover already lets you know the main character is serious about her mission(I read the UK-version). I kind of expected this one to be similar to the Hunger Games but I was somewhat wrong.

June lives in a society whose government trains people to become warriors(I wouldn't call them agents, they are taught violent abilities). She has scored the best result in her test. Her brother is a commander and they live in riches.

Day is the governments most wanted criminal. He has killed June's brother(or so they think). He tries to help his family out of poverty and sickness. He meets June by accident - and of course neither of them knows who the other one is.

After June meets Day, she starts to question the governments acts. She finds out she didn't even know her brother - or atleast not like she thought she did. June and Day start to put the pieces together and even June realizes what is going on. They start a rebellion against the unfair and cruel government. Is it too late for June to save Day and his people?

You will have to read it to find out:)

In my opinion Legend is easily read at one sitting. I'd recommend this one to YA-readers and possibly a bit younger ones as well.

-M

COVER REVEAL: Earth Star by Janet Edwards

Earth Star's, which is sequel to Janet Edwards debut novel Earth Girl, cover has revealed! Earth Star will be published in this summer, 2013. Personally, I can't wait it - Earth Girl took my heart and I'm dying to read the sequel. However, we get to see the book cover now, and guys - it's breathtakingly amazing! Take a good look, and get ready to fall in love with this cover:

- H


Harper Voyager informed about the cover reveal here.

You need to read this one! :Divergent by Veronica Roth

I know many people in the US have already heard about this one but I still NEED to tell you about my experience with Divergent. This must be one of my favourite books of all times. I heard about Divergent already in 2011 but somehow ended up picking it up as late as August last year. It took me less than two days to finish, hence the plot’s greatness and some wonderful charactersJ Personally I think Tobias, Uriah and Eric are simply the best characters in the book. They are so very different from each other but they all have something in common; Roth makes them remembable. Tris on the other hand, who is the main character, makes my blood boil every once in a while. You simply don't put cute guys on the floor!

 16-year-old Beatrice Prior lives in futuristic Chicago. She belongs to Abnegation and she has to decide if she will stay in her old faction or move to a new one. Either way, she has to choose. There are five factions and the factionless. The factions represent all different qualities of mind; Abnegation the selfless, Dauntless the brave, Candor the honest, Erudite the intelligent and Amity the peaceful. I can see some similarities with those and Harry Potter but it really doesn’t bother me at all. The books are so different in so many other ways, you really cannot compare them.

When Beatrice becomes Tris and chooses her faction, things start to happen. The cruel and clever leader of her faction, Eric, seems to like torturing the new initiates. He loves the power. The initiates have teachers to teach them how to cope and behave in their new factions. One of them is called Four, and right from the start when Tris sees him, she thinks he hates her. She couldn’t be more wrong.

Tris becomes friends with some of the new initiates. Christina and Uriah are always in the middle of the action. The initiates need to face some challenges to become a part of their new society. I guess Roth could have told more about the history of forming those factions and how some of the people don’t question the factions’ actions that much. There is the second book though, Insurgent (which is also great!!!), and the still-to-be-named third book. I think she will go into more detail in those two.

Four and Tris are trying to keep their secret because it would kind of make Four look bad. While trying to keep their relationship on a down mode, there are some speculations about the Divergent. You really need to read this book if you don’t know what I mean. I’d recommend this to everyone, not only the YA-lovers. Enjoy!(You will, I promise.)

-M

                                                                                                   

                                                                                           

                                                                                                           

We're back!

Sorry we haven't been updating for a while! More reviews on the way! Yay!:)