Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: October 1, 2006

Publisher: Mira

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: You know your life is bad when you miss your days as a poison taster…

With her greatest enemy dead, and on her way to be reunited with the family she’d been stolen from long ago, Yelena should be pleased. But though she has gained her freedom, she can’t help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways—and her newfound friends and relatives don’t think it’s for the better….

Despite the turmoil, she’s eager to start her magic training—especially as she’s been given one year to harness her power or be put to death. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia’s throne for a lost prince—and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with all her new enemies…

After waiting soooo long to read Poison Study I loved it so much that I dived into Magic Study right away despite my toppling pile of other books I need to read and review.  While I enjoyed it I still think Poison Study was by far the better book.

I was dreading that we wouldn’t see Valek as much being as Yelena was going back to her homeland where Valek is pretty much viewed as a demon.  I was happily surprised to see Synder managed to work him in and have some interaction with Yelena.

The other aspect of this series that had me worried was the fact that I had already read the Glass series and everyone told me that meant I would know basically how the story ends and who are the characters are.  This actually added an interesting twist to the story for me.  I had this picture of how some of the characters were like Zitora and Leif and then seeing them “introduced” in this book was so different from what I came to expect from them.  Leif was the biggest shocker to me.   I almost didn’t recognize him because he was such a huge jerk towards Yelena and did not match up at all with how I remembered him.

Snyder certainly has a way with developing her characters including the ones who don’t play as major of a part.  I love Yelena’s parents and really wish I could see her mother climbing up that tree every time she began to worry about Yelena.  I’m certain it would be a interesting sight.  Ari and Janco make minor appearances as well and my only complaint would be not seeing as much of them as I would have liked.

The story line was somewhat interesting but I didn’t feel like much progressed in the bigger picture.  Maybe it will all come together in book three and I really promise not to wait another couple years to get to it!

Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  I just recently found out about this one and it sounds really interesting.

My pick for this week is Glitch by Heather Anastasiu due out in August 2012.

Summary from Goodreads.com: In the Community, there is no more pain or war. Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.

When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.

Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: December, 1, 2008

Publisher: Mira

Series: Study series #1

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: Choose: A quick death…Or slow poison…

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace—and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust—and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…

First off I just have to say woohoo!  I finally can mark this one off my list as read.  It’s been on my shelf for ages and everyone raves about it but for some reason I just never picked it up.  It was a part of my

Ten Books Sitting on My Shelf that I Will Read in 2012 list (it was on my 2011 list as well).

Now, I have to say I’m beginning to think you just can’t go wrong with one of Maria V. Synder’s fantasy books.  Her Glass series was the first series I read from her and loved them.  Then I read the first book in her latest series, A Touch of Power, and that was AMAZING!  Poison Study definitely did not disappoint.  Some people told me I might be disappointed since I’ve seen how Yelena turns out in the Storm series but I actually found it fascinating to see how different she was in this book.  She lives in a world where everything is very black and white.  If you kill someone you will be executed.  It doesn’t matter if it was in self-defense, if it was an accident or if you really just meant to kill them.  The punishment is still the same.  That’s the situation Yelena finds herself in.  If you were in her place would you choose to become the next food tester and never really know when you might die a excruciating death from some poison?  I’m not sure what I would choose but Yelena amazed me with how smart she was and how tough she was.  Valek was a surprise to me.  In the beginning he starts off as this hard ass, apparently unfeeling guy who is concerned only with the safety of his Commander and will sacrifice anyone else who stands in the way (some of the stories about this are pretty horrifying). But it was sweet watching as Yelena works her way under his skin and into his heart.

I have to admit though my two favorite characters were Ari and Janco.  I loved them in the Glass series and really enjoyed meeting them again in this series and seeing how they got started.  They are the perfect pair who almost sound like an old married couple as they banter, argue and spar with each other.  They take Yelena under their wings and teach her how to defend herself physically and also stand up for her against those who pick on her simply because of who she is.

I cannot wait to read the next book in this series and really wish I had read it sooner.

Source: Purchased myself

Publication date: January 3, 2012

Publisher: Feiwal & Friends

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1

I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I have to admit the idea of cyborgs and androids appealed to the geeky side of me and then you throw in the Cinderella aspect and this book immediately made it’s way onto my must read list.  It certainly was a fun read but nothing that totally blew me away.  I enjoyed Cinder’s character although sometimes her denseness would really get on my nerves.  I mean what part of “do not let the Queen see you or she will kill you” was hard to understand?  And yet she still goes basically to swoon over Prince Kai (yes she had his android but she could have sent it back another way).  Speaking on Prince Kai’s android that was another piece of the story that bugged me.  You would think if the prince you are crushing on brings you his android begging to have it fixed as soon as possible you would put that on top of your priority list.  Instead, Cinder often seems to forget about it and instead goes working on her car or doing other things.

Her step-mother’s character was way over played.  Everyone knows she is the evil step-mother but it would have been nice to see something else added to her character or personality that made her rise above the fairy tale character she is supposed to portray.  At one point there is a hint that maybe she regrets what she does to Cinder which actually would have made a nice counterpoint to her personality but then it’s pushed aside again by her being outrageously “evil step-motherly”.  The one character I was surprised how much I enjoyed was Dr. Erland.  When we first meet him he seemed like he was going to be one of the bad guys as he’s crochetchy and dislikes one of his assistants because she’s too tall but then we get a hint that maybe he’s not so bad as he spares a cyborg who is a father of a young son with what seems like a flimsy excuse.  This threw me for a loop because it didn’t seem to fit with the fact that he did seem to target teenage girl cyborgs for his plague research.  His absent minded professor-like demeanor grew on me and though you could see the revelation of who he is coming a mile away I still loved watching and listening to him as he deals with Cinder.

I suppose I can’t get away without mentioning Prince Kai but really i just feel ho hum about him. Is he hot? Check. Is he rich? Check. Sweetest guy in the world? Check. So all the makings of a swoon-worthy hero but he was just missing that charisma that draws me in for most of the book.  I did start to enjoy him more in the later half as we see he and Cinder interacting more and joking around but not enough to really make me want to go all gaga over him.

In the end, was this a fun book to read?  Definitely!  Can you see all the plot turns coming a mile away?  Sure.  Would I recommend this book?  Yup.  It may not top my list of favorites but I did enjoy reading it and am  hoping for more in the next book.

Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  I just recently found out about this one and it sounds really interesting.

My pick for this week is Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini.  It’s due out September 2012.

Summary from Goodreads.com: Life altering mistakes are meant to alter lives…

When Elliot dies for the third time, she knows this is her last shot. There are no fourth-timers in this afterlife, so one more chance is all she has to get things right. But before she can move on to her next life, Elliot will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed…and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

As she pieces together the mistakes of her past, Elliot must earn the forgiveness of her best friend and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

Source: Received for review

Publication date: January 24, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars

Summary from Amazon.com:

The truth has eluded her for years…Now, is she ready to face it?

When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life—until the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now, with the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA Agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie’s father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie’s disappearance was not as random as everyone had always believed…

It has been killing me waiting to find out who really killed Bonnie so as you can imagine I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on this book.  After reading Quinn I was also interested to see where Catherine and John’s relationship would go.  I’m of mixed feelings with this conclusion.  Maybe it was because the previous books Eve and Quinn were so good and there were so many twists and turns but when we find out who the killer is I felt let down.

There were several pieces thrown in that seemed so random and didn’t really serve much purpose like Father Barnabas’s being accused of hypnotizing his patients, the boy Joe and Father Barnabas meet at the wilderness camp, etc.  I felt that many parts could have been shortened or chopped out all together.  In fact, there was a section at the beginning of the book that was basically the same pages pulled from Quinn and dropped into this book.  For a second I had to flip through the rest of the book wondering if I had picked up the wrong book to bring on the train.  I ended up skimming most of it.  I think the main reason for dropping that in might have been in Quinn it mentions Catherine having bruised feet and in Bonnie it changes to her having bloody feet and worries about attracting crocodiles.

So while I’m happy to finally have the question of who killed Bonnie answered it seemed anti-climatic to me after such great books leading up to Bonnie.  Still fans of Eve Duncan are not going to want to miss this one.

Source: Downloaded from NetGalley

Publication date: January 31, 2012

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

I give this book 3.5/4 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com:

NEWSOUL
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL
Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART
Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

The cover of this book is what first pulled me in and I will admit the synopsis did not really grab me but yet sometimes I am a sucker for a cover so I had to read it.  Let me just say that Jodi Meadows is a master world builder!  The idea of a set number of people reincarnating over and over for 5000 years and just waiting for their bodies to grow up in order to carry on with a life full of the knowledge they possessed in a previous life was fascinating.  It’s mind boggling to imagine how Ana must have felt having to try and live in a world where everyone knows each other and has had thousands of years to accumulate knowledge.  It must be like constantly viewed as a child by adults who have a hard time remembering what being a child was like.

I also enjoyed seeing how this society has had to adapt to such a life where your “mother” could end up being younger than you in this lifetime or how the love of your life could be reborn as the opposite sex from how you first met them.  Talk about making your head spin.

The reason why I was torn about the rating on this book was despite being enthralled with the world Meadows created and wanting to know more details I never really felt enamored on either Sam or Ana.  While I wanted to empathize more with Ana and I felt like her confusion was realistic I don’t understand why she didn’t question more things like why she never questioned Sam about how apparently he lied about the year he was born.  On the other hand I also found it hard to imagine Sam falling for Ana.  Yes, I can imagine she is fascinating to watch because her reactions to everything are so different from everyone else since everything is new to her but I would think that would give someone a more paternal feeling rather than romantic feeling.  I get that many books are just expected to have that romantic aspect but I would have really rather this stayed more of a fantasy story with the two being good friends as they feel out this new phenomena of “nosouls” or “newsouls” being born and what it means to the world.

The other issue I had with the book was the ending.  It felt a little anti-climatic and unsatisfying.  With the constant mention of how uneasy Ana felt about the temple and the city walls I expected there to be more to do with the “god” that the people can’t decide if he really exists or not.  The ending barely touches that question and I still felt like I was left waiting for more.  So yes I will definitely be reading the next book because I have so many questions I want answered but I am hoping to feel more of a connection with Sam and Ana in the next book.

Source: Picked up an ARC at NCIBA & also purchased my own finished copy

Publication date: Jan. 3, 2012

Publisher: HarperCollins

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads.com: Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love – one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

I read this book almost in one sitting and thought it was an amazing read.  I will admit it started off a little rocky and I was wondering why people were raving about it but the fact that several friends whose taste I trust and the fact that I just love Veronica Rossi kept me going.  It was definitely worth wading through the rough parts!  Initially Aria just irritated me with her attitude towards Perry and how she treated him as a “savage” despite how he is constantly saving her life.  But when I sat down and really thought about it I could not really blame her.  She was raised with these images and stories about those who live outside the pods and has never had to face real life.  In the realms she has never had to face real fear, pain, hunger, etc.  If something got too uncomfortable she could just move on to another realm.  Once I came to this realization I can understand why Perry would scare the heck out of her despite being her savior.  I enjoyed seeing how she learns to adapt to Perry’s world and eventually see how though Perry’s world may seem more primitive it had so much to offer.

I loved Perry’s character.  Despite not being able to read and in some senses the savage that Aria viewed him as you can’t help but like him for his straight forward way of thinking and survival.  I wonder how being able to smell what a person is feeling would affect how you view people in general.  I would imagine it could skew things a lot because I know sometimes I have instinctive reactions that I suppress because I know they are wrong or impulsive but I wonder how someone like Perry would view those reactions?  The fact that he is able to forgive Aria’s horrible treatment of him and move past it was amazing and just made me love him all the more.

The supporting characters were just as intriguing and I cannot wait to see more of them.  Talon just tugs at your heartstrings, Roar was impossible not to like and I would love to learn more about Marron’s background and how he built his community.  The end was pretty predictable and I saw it coming from almost the beginning but I still loved the ride.  The world Rossi builds reminded me Clan of the Cave Bear meets The Matrix and works much better than you would expect.  This is one debut author you will not want to miss.

Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.  I just recently found out about this one and it sounds really interesting.

My pick for this week is False Memory by Dan Krokos.  It’s due out August 2012.

Summary from Goodreads.com:

Miranda North wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn’t at all surprised by Miranda’s shocking ability.

Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn’t easy—especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can’t remember loving.

Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn’t seem to matter…when there may not be a future

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is-Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book (debut authors, authors who seem to have taken a hiatus, OR for those who read classics authors you wish would have written another book before they passed).  I’m sure there are more than these 7 but fortunately most of my favorite authors have new books in the works!

1. Katherine Neville-I absolutely loved The Eight and although I wasn’t as big a fan of her other books I would still love to see something new along these lines from her.
2. Margaret Mitchell-it took until last year to finally read Gone With the Wind and I loved it!  I know there is a sequel, Scarlett, written by another author but I would have loved to see where Mitchell would have gone with a sequel.
3. Julie Garwood-I know she is still writing new contemporary romances but I would love if she would go back and write some new historical romances.  I LOVE those.
4. Suzanne Collins-is there any question why?!  Is it possible she could write something else that would equal The Hunger Games?  I don’t know but I would love to find out.
5. Jandy Nelson-The Sky is Everywhere was an unbelievably touching YA story and I cannot wait to see what else she will write.
6. Julia Hoban-Willow was another one of my favorite contemporary YA books.
7. Susan Beth Pfeffer-Life As We Knew It was so amazingly written that it gave me the chills and I would love to see another series from  her.