Friday's Featured Freebie: Natural Selection by Elizabeth Sharp

It's Friday again and I am on the search for the perfect Halloween costume. It's my second favorite holiday after Christmas. As of right now, my boyfriend and I will probably be Superman and Lois Lane or Medusa and her stone victim. However, I am going out costume searching after I finish posting this so that might still change. 

Natural Selection (Forces of Nature #1) by Elizabeth Sharp 

Free on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Average, plain-bodied Amelia Hoffman has resigned herself to a life of mediocrity, unable to escape the shadows cast by her all-too-perfect siblings. Worse, her feelings for her brother’s best friend are getting stronger.

Everything changes after the brutal murder of her close friend.

Suddenly, Amelia’s life is transformed and she is thrust into a wondrous and frightening new world of myths and legends. As she explores this new world hidden within the layers of her own, secrets are revealed. When her body miraculously changes overnight, Amelia is forced to hide in her home for her own protection. But as danger circles closer, Amelia has to figure out who is committing the ruthless homicides.

Otherwise, she could be next. - Goodreads

Review: Opal and Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

As promised, here are more Daemon reviews.  I figured that I needed spread these out a bit for two reason, first the post would get very lengthy.  I'm pretty sure I could go on and on and on about these books.  Second, I knew I would going through withdrawals, and writing reviews take me back into the books, briefly.

Opal (Lux, #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Daemon and Katy are discovering more and more about themselves.  Their love/hate relationship is finally in full force commitment mode.  They start working together to finally start working against the system that has kept secrets from them this entire time.

Origin (Lux, #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Katy has been capture and Daemon will do everything in his power to save her, even if it means exposing all of his kind to the humans.

What can I say.  I really, really, really, love this series.  They are right up there with the Ancients of Light series by Heather Fleener as my favorite paranormal romance books.  I'm trying really hard not to spoil any part of the book, Rachel knows this is not easy for me to do.  I get really excited and then my mouth just doesn't stop talking.  I guess this is a benefit of writing, I get to proof read what I'm going to say, edit and delete.  Too bad I can't do that in real life, that would have saved me some pretty embarrassing moments.  Anyways, I really hope everyone takes some time to check these books out.  I promise you won't be disappointed, how can you not fall in love with a strong opinionated book blogger like Katy and a sexy and moody alien like Daemon.

Waiting on Wednesday

My Waiting on Wednesday is a book that I'm now desperately waiting on.  After getting hooked on the Lux series, I easily went straight into the Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.   All I know right this instance is that if I didn't have other books that I need to read (House of Hades came out yesterday) I would be reading more Jennifer L. Armentrout.  I'm keeping this short and sweet so I can read.
 
Sentinel by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release Date: November 5th, 2013



It's a beautiful day for a war.

As the mortal world slowly slips into chaos of the godly kind, Alexandria Andros must overcome a stunning defeat that has left her shaken and in doubt of their ability to end this war once and for all.

And with all the obstacles between Alex and her happily-ever-after with the swoonworthy Aiden St. Delphi, they must now trust a deadly foe as they travel deep into the Underworld to release one of the most dangerous gods of all time.

In the stunning, action-packed climax to the bestselling Covenant series, Alex must face a terrible choice: the destruction of everything and everyone she holds dear… or the end of herself. - Goodreads

Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders

This is this week's Top Ten Tuesday, which is hosted by The Broke & the Bookish and this week's topic is the Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders. These are not in any particular order.

Best: 

1. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I shut this book and thought, "WOW. How is any other book going to exceed my expectations ever again." The ending blows your mind.

2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. This book tied in all the books in this series and answered all my questions about King Leck, Po and Fire.

3. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I debated what list this should really go on because there wasn't as much action as I anticipated and Jacob's new love interest kind of creeped me out. On the other hand, I loved meeting all the different clans and learning about Bella's unique gift. However, the latter trumps the former.

4.The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan. This ending was complete and felt right though I didn't mind that Riordan continued on things in the spin-off series, The Heroes of Olympus.

5. The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts. Melissa loved the ending of this series. I need to read this trilogy so I can find out why.

Worst (Our definition of worst in this case doesn't mean bad. It means the ending wasn't what we were expecting or that we wanted more from it meaning there were too many unanswered questions.We still  love these series otherwise we wouldn't have finished them in the first place):

1. Twilight by Meg Cabot. I love Jesse and the ending, but at the same time I wanted to know what happens next. The ending had too much of a cliffhanger feeling to it. I kept saying to myself, "Is that it?" and it was for the longest time. But, rumor has it that Cabot is writing an eighth book in this series so lets hope Jesse returns and the ending is solidified.

2. Requiem by Lauren Oliver. Great book except there should have been an epilogue. I need to know what happen to Grace and Hana, but more importantly with Julian, Lena and Alex. Also after reading Raven's novella, I have some unanswered questions about what Tack knows about Raven's condition during Requiem.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. I am such a hypocrite since I was not a fan of the epilogue for this. I felt like too many young characters lived thus it felt non-realistic. Then after all those years of adventures, Harry just settles down and lives a normal life...for a wizard and frankly that was too realistic for me. I have Peter Pan syndrome, you know, that fear to grow up and once Harry Potter grows up that means it is time for me to grow up as well. Frankly, I was not having that at age nineteen when I finished this series. Maybe I would feel different about it now.

4. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares. I haven't actually finished this series. Once my sister told me what happens to Tibby I have steered clear of reading this book. I don't know if I am prepared for this series to end especially since I know Tibby, who I have grown to know and love, will do something that will break my heart.

5. The Minority Council by Kate Griffin. Melissa loved this series more and more with each book, but she did say that the ending left it open and made you feel like more was to come. It sounds like there may be a spin-off series in the works that will satisfy Melissa's desire to see more of this world.

What do you think are the best or worst series enders? Do you agree/disagree with any of the books on our list? Any we are missing?

Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

Room
by Emma Donoghue
Rating: 5 wine glasses

Seven years ago, a young college student was kidnapped walking across campus, locked up in a 11 by 11 ft room, rapped by her assailant and been held prisoner in that room ever since. Two years after being kidnapped, this woman got pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. This book follows the life of this now five year old boy, Jack.

I am glad this book was chosen by my book club because it forced me to push through the slower parts in the first two sections. From the 1^st page to the last page of this novel, my feelings toward this book did a complete 180.  

The first third of the book, I was frustrated with Jack and the way the book was narrated from his point of view. Unlike his mother, Jack has only known the confines of this room and he has no inkling that there is a whole another world beyond the locked door so his outlook on the room is completely bewildering at first glance. It was amazing what Jack could comprehend and yet how little he actually understood of his situation. The second third I was frustrated with the mother’s selfish behavior. The final third was bittersweet as Jack slowly learns to cope with his ever growing world and life outside of the room. I love  the strange but sweet interactions between "Steppa" & Jack and Grandma & Jack

Although the book is told through the eyes of a child the subject is tough to swallow. The book invokes such powerful emotions and reactions as I couldn’t help but relate it to the recent news story of those girls who were kidnapped and found in Ohio. The most frighten part is that this novel isn’t based in another country where you can close the book and wash your hands of it with a “that doesn’t happen here” mentality. This book tackles what those girls might have experienced when they were held captive and during the rehabilitation process after they escaped. Before reading this book, I never thought about what a person would have to mentally, physical and emotionally go through to assimilate back into the outside world after being kidnapped.

The Room is a riveting story about the power of mother’s love for her child and even more so the power of a child’s love for their mother. The ending brings the story to a full circle and provides hope that with time Jack and his mother will be able to recover from these unspeakable transgressions. I definitely would recommend this book, especially for a book club read. 

Showcase Sunday #10

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea where you show what books you've purchased, borrowed, checked out from the library, received from giveaway, etc.
 
Alright, I guess I owe you a new free book.  Yeah, did anyone catch that?  I posted a book that was our first Freebie Friday and Rachel even wrote a review for it.  Someone smack me upside the head please!  So in addition to Forbidden Forest, I also downloaded The Reluctant Amazon by Sandy James.  I've read books with Amazons in them, just not one about them.  This one grabbed my attention. 

I also bought Seaborn by S.A. Bolich.   I've been waiting for this book to for over a year now.

Rachel borrowed Looking for Alaska by John Green from the library.

We received The Inevitable by Daniel Hope to review this week too!

What did you pick up this week?