Monday Book Recommendations: Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

Monday is the day I choose what new books I’m going to start reading but I have so many books in my To Read Pile that sometimes it’s hard to choose so I have decided that on Monday mornings I’ll recommend some  of  my favorite books.

Title: Monstrous Beauty

Series: none

Author: Elizabeth Fama

Date Published: 

Publisher: 

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.

Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago.

This is one of the few books that feature mermaids that I've enjoyed, the plot is great but the writing steals the show.

I'm Taking A Break

I'm  going to be in New York City all week so I'm not going to be anywhere near a computer, I will have some scheduled posts going on the blog but I won't be able to answer comments until I get back which is on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks so much for understanding!

Feature and Follow Friday (46)

The Feature and and and Follow is hosted by TWO hosts,  of Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This weeks question:

How many books have you got on your TBR list? - Suggested by Obsessive Compulsive Reader. 

This is according to Goodreads.

Waiting on Wednesday (76): The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker

Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week is:

Title: The Witch Hunter

Series: The Witch Hunter #1

Author: Virginia Boecker

Date Published: June 2nd 2015

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.

But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.

Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut. 

Why I'm Waiting:

-This is a new author, at least for me, and you can never have enough new authors in your life.

- I always like books that have royal courts in them, in my opinion that's one of the best settings for a book.

Top Ten Tuesday (66): Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and The Bookish.  Each week a new top ten list is posted, and to participate all you have to do is fill in YOUR top ten for the list.

 Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Bag This Summer

I really don't like to read when I'm at the beach or any vacation at all, when I'm near any body of water you are guaranteed I'll be in the water as long as I can so reading is not in my mind at all, so my list will feature the books I would read after a day at the beach.

Monday Book Recommendations: Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster

Title: Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster

Series: none

Author:Dana Thomas

Date Published: August 16th 2007

Publisher: Penguin Press

A hard-hitting behind-the-scenes look at the luxury fashion industry today. There was a time when luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. Luxury wasn't simply a product, it was a lifestyle, one that denoted a history of tradition, superior quality and offered a pampered buying experience. Today's luxury marketplace would be virtually unrecognizable to its founders. Gone are the family-owned businesses dedicated to integrity and quality; the industry is now run by multi-billion dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand-awareness, advertising and above all, profits. Handcrafted goods are practically extinct, and almost all manufacturing has been outsourced to large factories in such places as China, where your expensive brand-name handbag is being assembled right next to one from a mass-market label that will cost substantially less. Dana Thomas, a journalist who has covered style and the luxury business for The Washington Post, Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine from Paris for the past fifteen years, digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci and Burberry don't want us to know. Traveling from the laboratories in Grasse, where the ingredients for Christian Dior and Prada perfumes are produced, to the crowded factories in China, where workers glue together "Made in Italy" bags by the thousands, Thomas explores the whole of today's high-end shopping experience to answer some pressing questions: What is the new definition of luxury when advertising for this lifestyle is targeted mainly toward the mass market? What are we paying for when quality has given way to quantity? Can integrity survive in a corporate culture driven to meet regular growth and profit projections? Is luxury still the best that money can buy?

this is not my usual read,I actually had to read this for school and it really surprised me how complex the world of Fashion is, I also enjoyed reading about the history of major Fashion Houses.

Feature and Follow Friday (45)

The Feature and and and Follow is hosted by TWO hosts,  of Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This weeks question:

How do you write your reviews? - Suggested by Blue Books and Butterflies.

Sometimes, especially with books I didn't like, I write them right after finishing the book  but most of the time I make a list of things I liked, didn't like and random thoughts I had while reading.

It looks something like this, after listing my thought I try to order them into making sense

Letting Ana Go by Anonymous Review

Title: Letting Ana 

Series: None

Author: Anonymous

Date Published:June 4th 2013 

Publisher: Simon Pulse

In the tradition of Go Ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky, a harrowing account of anorexia and addiction.

She was a good girl from a good family, with everything she could want or need. But below the surface, she felt like she could never be good enough. Like she could never live up to the expectations that surrounded her. Like she couldn’t do anything to make a change.

But there was one thing she could control completely: how much she ate. The less she ate, the better—stronger—she felt.

But it’s a dangerous game, and there is such a thing as going too far…

Her innermost thoughts and feelings are chronicled in the diary she left behind.

This is not a happy book, it does not have a happy ending so if you want a light hearted read full of hope ole go looking for it somewhere else.

This books shows perfectly how anyone can develop an eating disorder and also how easy the can be triggered, it doesn't matter if it seems like you have everything you should want in life.

What made me connect so much with this book was the format, it's written in diary entries so it feels incredibly personal, even though the book was written by an anonymous author.

Final Rating

Waiting on Wednesday (75): The Good Girls

Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week is:

Title: The Good Girls 

Series: The Perfectionist #2

Author: Sara Shepard

Date Published: June 2nd 2015

Publisher: 

From Sara Shepard, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Pretty Little Liars series, comes the shocking sequel to The Perfectionists—with an ending you'll have to read to believe!

Mackenzie, Ava, Caitlin, Julie, and Parker have done some not-so-perfect things. Even though they all talked about killing rich bully Nolan Hotchkiss, they didn't actually go through with it. It's just a coincidence that Nolan died in exactly the way they planned . . . right? Except Nolan wasn't the only one they fantasized about killing. When someone elsethey named dies, the girls wonder if they're being framed. Or are theyabout to become the killer's next targets?

Why I'm waiting:

Sara Shepard is my guilty pleasure author, I always say I'm going to stop reading her books but as soon as she announces something new I automatically add it to my TBR and preorder it and The Perfectionists is no exception.

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West Review

Title: The Fill-In Boyfriend

Series: None

Author:Kasie West 

Date Published: May 5th 2015 

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she has to think fast. After all, she'd been telling her friends about him for months now. This was supposed to be the night she proved he existed. So when she sees a cute guy waiting to pick up his sister, she enlists his help. The task is simple: be her fill-in boyfriend— two hours, zero commitment, a few white lies. After that, she can win back the real Bradley.

The problem is that days after prom, it's not the real Bradley she's thinking about, but the stand-in. The one whose name she doesn't even know. But tracking him down doesn't mean they're done faking a relationship. Gia owes him a favor and his sister intends to see that he collects: his ex-girlfriend's graduation party — three hours, zero commitment, a few white lies.

Just when Gia begins to wonder if she could turn her fake boyfriend into a real one, Bradley comes waltzing back into her life, exposing her lie, and threatening to destroy her friendships and her new-found relationship.

This is my very first contemporary novel by Kasie West and I honestly didn't expect to like this as much as I did and now I'm planning on buying all of her contemporary Ya books, it was a very easy read that made me smile so much 

I really enjoyed Gia, sure at the beginning of the book she was the popular girl that only seemed to care for herself and what others think of her but the way she was written lets you see that there is  a reason for her need of approval. The fact that once she noticed that her behavior towards people she didn't really care about wasn't the best she made an effort to fix things and she also admits her mistakes instead of blaming the on other people.

As for Fill-in Bradley I liked that he was not the broken bad boy rebel kind, sure he knows heart break and has a trust issues bur he has a very good reason for them and despite these issues he doesn't use them as an excuse to treat Gia, or women in general, badly. 

My only reason for not giving the book five stars is that the ending lacked resolution for me, through out the book we saw Gia worry over her friends and their opinion and she genuinely cared for them, I didn't expect Jules to show remorse but it would have been nice for Claire and the others to question what made Gia feel so insecure about their friendship that she felt the need to lie.

Final Rating

Top Ten Tuesday (65): Top Ten Tuesday Freebie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and The Bookish.  Each week a new top ten list is posted, and to participate all you have to do is fill in YOUR top ten for the list.

Ten Things I don't Want To See Anymore in Books

1) Love Triangles: I know that you can fall in love many times but does it always have to be with two people at the same time?

2)Absent Parents: How do parents don't notice that their kids are missing? 

3) Special Snowflake Main Character: The reason I loved Katiniss was because she was a normal girl, the things that set her apart were things she had worked for; not being a character with skills/magic ability that no one else has. Another case I hate is when the heroine is not like other girls (I just hate that phrase).

4)Dystopias: I think that YA especially is saturated with them right now and that a break is needed, like when everyone was crazy about vampires.

5)Authors expanding series too much: Sometimes series need to end, no matter how popular the series, I rather only have three well written books than get three more books that are lazily written.

6)Cover changes halfway through a series: I love when my covers match so authors need to commit to a design so my bookshelves can look pretty.

7) Authors bashing reviewers: No book is going to be loved by everyone and some people will post online that they didn't like certain book; authors need to learn to respect that and that if you attack reviewers your not going to make people like your book.

8) Summaries that start with: For fans of -insert popular book-: Each book is unique and it doesn't need to be compared to others to attract readers.

9)Lack of communication: I understand this in some YA and NA books since the main characters are still young but when it's in adult relationships it frustrates me a lot.

10) Bad Translations: I speak can only speak/read tow languages: Spanish and English, so sometimes when I'm reading in English and a character will speak awful Spanish, this baffles me don't editors have translators that aren't Google? I cringe every time Cassandra Clare's Raphael Santiago "speaks" in Spanish. When I read books written in Spanish and there are phrases in English they are very well translated so it bothers me that books in English don't check these things. I don't know about other languages but I've heard that it has happened.

The Heir by Kiera Cass Review

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.



The Selection is that series that I love to hate  I liked book one but hated book two, since most of the problems I had with this series came from the main character so I decided to give America's daughter a chance. Big Mistake.

First of all, Why do authors feel the need to give characters names you can't pronounce, it's not cute or original. You know you're going to have problems with a book when you don't like the main character, Eadlyn is basically that pampered girl you saw so many times in My Super Sweet Sixteen, a girl that complained about everything, felt that her life was unfair and didn't understand why things didn't happen the way she wanted them to.

Here are some examples of her being a brat:

"Had I been born a generation earlier, it wouldn't have mattered. Ahren was the male, so Ahren would have been the heir.

Alas, Mom and Dad couldn't stand to watch their firstborn be stripped of a title by an unfortunate but rather lovely set of breasts. So they changed the law, and the people rejoiced, and I was trained day by day to become the next ruler of Illea.

What they didn't understand was that their attempts to make my life fair seemed rather unfair to me."

Excuse me for not being sorry about the fact that your parents believe in gender equality, it must be so awful to have a Throne handed to you simply because you were the older twin. 

"Yes, but why were you so harsh? For a few you simply said 'no' or flicked your hand."

"When my father is stern, no one chastises him. I don't think it's fair that when I act similarly, I'm seen as cruel..."

Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember Maxon eliminating the girls privately to spare them the humiliation of being sent home, the Princess here does it on national broadcast and she still is upset to find out that people didn't find it charming or funny.

"Mark is a chemist. He's studying biochemistry, specifically."

My eyes widened. "Really? Such a range in your professions."

She frowned. "There's no caste system anymore, Your Highness. People can date and marry anyone they want to."

I turned away from the mirror to look at her directly. "That's not what I mean. It's simply intriguing to me the dynamic you must have. You have my laundry in your arms, and he might cure a disease.Those are two incredibly different roles in the world."

Her treatment of people in general is awful but the wort part is that she feels it's her right to do it because she is the heir of the throne.

The saving grace of all of this was that the people could didn't love her they actually people were protesting against her and not scared to show it, sadly Eadlyn was more concerned over her Tiaras and the fact that the Palace didn't have  a pool.

Final Rating

Monday Book Recommendations: The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

Title: The Lost Girl

Series: none

Author: Sangu Mandanna 

Date Published: August 28th 2012

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Eva's life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. She was made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her "other," if she ever died. Eva spends every day studying that girl from far away, learning what Amarra does, what she eats, what it's like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But sixteen years of studying never prepared her for this. Now she must abandon everything and everyone she's ever known—the guardians who raised her, the boy she's forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive.

What Eva finds is a grief-stricken family; parents unsure how to handle this echo they thought they wanted; and Ray, who knew every detail, every contour of Amarra. And when Eva is unexpectedly dealt a fatal blow that will change her existence forever, she is forced to choose: Stay and live out her years as a copy or leave and risk it all for the freedom to be an original. To be Eva.

From debut novelist Sangu Mandanna comes the dazzling story of a girl who was always told what she had to be—until she found the strength to decide for herself. 

This was a rollercoaster of emotions, the concept is amazing, I do admit I have a little bias since I love books with clones in them but please read this book you won't regret it.

New Author Spotlight: Roses Are Red by J.B. Kantt

Title: Roses Are Red

Series: The Blood, Sweat and Tears Series #1

Author: J. B. Kantt

Date Published: May 10th 2015

Purchase: Amazon

After her foster mother’s unexplained death six months ago, fourteen-year-old Isla Timearth just wants things to go back to normal for her and her twin brother, Monty. But “normal” can only go so far for a closed-off girl with abandonment issues and an anxious boy that gets frequent nosebleeds. Still, the troubled redheads give it a shot by returning to the summer camp they’ve been going to for years. 
Aside from her crush showing up unexpectedly, the summer starts out as Isla expected: she participates in multiple activities with her friends, while her brother shies away from doing anything with anyone. But camp traditions get rained on when their biological mother shows up unannounced and, as far as Isla’s concerned, unwelcome. 
Knowing that Mother Nature is the mother of all mood swings, Isla isn’t all that surprised to find out that her temperamental biological mother is the terrestrial goddess. What does surprise her is that Monty, the favorite twin, already knew but never told her. Despite being annoyed that such a huge secret was kept from her, Isla has always questioned the loyalty of her own flesh and blood. But once more family secrets start to unravel around her fellow campers, Isla finds out whether blood really is thicker than water. 

I normally recommend books on Mondays but I decided to make an exception this once, please check this author out:)