Feature Follow Friday (11)

The Feature &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:

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2014?

There are sooo many books I want to read this year but these three are the ones that are pre-ordered and ready to be downloaded to my Kindle as soon as I can have them.

Of Sea and Stone Cover Reveal

Of Sea and Stone by Kate Avery Ellison
Publication date: February 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

All her life, clever Aemi has been a slave in the Village of the Rocks, a place where the sea and sky meet. She’s heard the stories about the fabled People of the Sea, a people who possess unimaginable technology who live below the waves in the dark, secret places of the ocean. But she never dreamed those stories were true.

When a ship emerges from the ocean and men burn her village, Aemi is captured, and enslaved below the waves in Itlantis, a world filled with ancient cities of glass and metal, floating gardens, and wondrous devices that seem to work magic. To make matters worse, her village nemesis, the stuck-up mayor’s son Nol, was captured with her, and they are made servants in the same household beneath the sea.

Desperate to be free, Aemi plots her escape, even going so far as to work with Nol. But the sea holds more secrets than she realizes, and escape might not be as simple as leaving…

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20456671-of-sea-and-stone

AUTHOR BIO

I've been making up stories since I was five years old, and now I'm thrilled to be able to do it as a full-time job. I have an obsession with dark fantasy, dystopian futures, and Pride and Prejudice-style love stories full of witty banter and sizzling, unspoken feelings. When I'm not writing, I'm creating digital art, reading funny blogs, or watching my favorite shows (which include TVD and BSG). I live with my geeky husband and our two bad cats in Atlanta, GA.

Author links:

http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.ca/

https://twitter.com/katiewriting

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4863270.Kate_Avery_Ellison

Review: Carnelian by B. Kristin McMichael

Title: Carnelian
Author: B. Kristin McMichael
Pages: 200
Published:January 10th 2014 
Publisher: Lexia Press

Everyone has a past, but for most it isn’t so far in the past as Seth Sangre. His past is literally from thousands of years ago. Seth’s past led him to the present seeking something that might help him save his country from destruction. He has been in the present for over three years now and just found exactly what he has been looking for. 

Mari had dreams of college being a fresh start, one where she would start over and not fall for the good looking player like high school. Unfortunately for her that’s exactly what ends up falling into her lap on the first day she moves into the dorms. Now she has to hold to her promise to herself and not fall for the handsome Seth. But he doesn’t plan to make it easy for her. Seth has already marked her as his next conquest. As the semester progresses, Mari learns that Seth might just have a past of his own that’s literally in the past. Suddenly Mari finds her future along with her past put into question. She’s connected to Seth far more than she ever wanted to be and maybe the player isn’t who she thought he was. If Mari can trust her heart enough to follow him, Seth will lead Mari on an adventure of a lifetime and reveal family secrets she never knew existed.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Carnelian is the first book of a new series featuring time traveling characters, ancient cultures, an all knowing Goddess, and your everyday college student problems.

College Freshman Mari meets the mysterious Seth Sangre when he literally falls on her lap, she is wary of him at first because of his heartbreaker reputation but she can’t help feeling sparks every time she is near him; there is also the fact about Seth’s mysterious past including his two equally mysterious brothers.

The pros

-The Concept: lately I’ve read time travel novels where the methods of moving through time make no sense however this book the time traveling actually made sense.

-Positive College outlook: So many books make College look like the most horrible experience ever yet in Carnelian tells you that yes college is hard and you have to work hard but there is also time to have fun and enjoy yourself.

-Mari and Seth’s relationship: I loved the way the author wrote the scenes between those two.

-Egypt: Nearly all the time travel romance I have read take place in the US or England, it was nice to see that the author picked such an interesting place.

The cons

-Mari being judgmental: she hadn’t even spoken to Seth and she had already decided that he was a horrible person not worth her time.

-The Pace: At first the pace was great but in the end it felt very rushed.

-Secondary characters: All the secondary characters were interesting but we hardly saw them, I need more Dee.

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (14)

"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: Panic
Author: Lauren oliver
Pages: 416
Publisher:Harper Collins
Release date: March 4th 2014

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most

I love Lauren Oliver's Delirium Trilogy and this new books sounds amaing.

Top Ten Tuesday (11)

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.

This week the topic is:

Top Ten Things on my Reading WishList

1) Authors not taking so long to publish their books.

I get that writing a book takes time but I’ve been waiting for over a year for “City of Heavenly Fire” and I lost track for how long I’ve waited for a new book by George R. R. Martin.

2) Alternate History

I love when someone takes a historical event and changes the outcome of history.

3) Better Second Books

I’m sick of the second books in series being about the main character going on some kind of journey; I hate it even more if the journey is used to introduce a love triangle.

4) Original Authors

Many times I’ve read a book that reminds me of another book a little too much, it’s ok to be inspired by someone else’s work but it’s not ok to practically steal the plot and change the names of the characters and a few plot details.

5) More fairytale retellings

These are one of my favorite books and the world needs more of these.

6) Better LGBT Characters

I have no problem with a character not being straight; my problem comes when the character does nothing for the plot, they are normally there to be the quirky, funny best friend when they can be so much more.

7) Better Relationship Building

No more insta love, it’s not necessary to say I love you in the second week of the relationship. Authors take your time!

8) Less Love Triangles

I think I like it better when there are just two people in love, they can have ups and downs in their relationship but it doesn’t always have to involve someone loving two people at the same time

9) Time Travel

One of my favorite plots; especially if the main character travels to the past.

10) More geographic diversity

I get that most YA authors are American so their books are set in the US, but they can also do some research and write a book taking place in another country

Stacking the Shelves (17)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course e books! 

This week I bought

Downloaded for free:  http://page.macmillan.com/mcpg/razorlandtrilogy

The Girly girl Vs the Tomboy

Most YA novels I’ve read since I discovered the genre feature a young girl that is 16 shy, pretty but doesn’t know it, she loves to read, is introverted and does not care about hair, makeup or clothes. I have no problem with this type of girls most of the time this is how people describe me; what I have a problem with is when the heroine of the book meets a girl that seems confident and that clearly likes clothes hair and makeup she is always the villain, an airhead, slut (this one bothers me the most) or fake; the thing that bothers me is that most of the time the “tomboy” main character just met the “girly girl” and she instantly hates her. This started bothering me after tutoring some girls ages 10-14 and the ten year old didn’t want to wear anything pink anymore because it would make her dumb, when I asked her who told her that she told me that all her favorite heroines thought pink was stupid and that all the mean girls wore pink; the other girls made similar comments about wearing dresses and skirts and how they felt it was wrong to care about these things  because they felt that in TV and movies the bully is always the girl that cares about fashion and the hero is always a girl that likes simple clothes. After I got home and going through my shelf and Kindle I realized that this was true and that most of the time the main character didn’t even know the girl and she already judged her as an inferior person or they have a fashionable best friend that is responsible for their low self esteem and most of the time the friend turns out to be a backstabber.

There is nothing wrong with not caring about outer beauty but there is nothing wrong  with caring about how you look either, how you dress does not affect your intelligence or your personality, the only thing that chooses what type of person you are is you. There are girls that only wear jeans and t-shirts that are lovely and fun to hang around but there are also girls that wear jeans and t-shirts that are bullies and just mean. We also have the other end of the spectrum girls that love hair makeup and clothes that are lovely and fun to be around and there are also spectrum girls that love hair makeup and clothes that are bullies and just mean. I can tell you that wearing a dress never made me smarter or a better person but it didn’t make me a stupid horrible person either but then again neither did jeans or sweatpants.

I get that authors want to show that you should not be judged by not following fashion but I think it also goes both ways if you don’t want to be judged for not caring about fashion you shouldn’t judge the people who do care about it because of you do the I’m sorry but you are a hypocrite.

Once again I would just like to say that if you wear pink good for you, if you wear black good for you, you like to wear short skirts and tiny dresses?? If it makes you happy then keep wearing them. Do you like to wear football jerseys and tennis shoes? Keep wearing them.  You can be a Tomboy that is best friends with a Girly Girl and there is nothing wrong with it.