Cover Reveal: Obsidian Sky (Dark Sky #3) by Amy Braun Obsidian Sky by Amy Braun (Dark Sky #3) Publication date: February 7th 2017 Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adult Synopsis:The final struggle against the Hellions has arrived. A trapped engineer and a desperate marauder scramble to fight an enemy with unspeakable power on its side. Time is running out, and one world will be destroyed… After sacrificing herself to save the lives of her friends and family, Claire Abernathy struggles to outwit her Hellion captors. They torment and terrify her into working on a weapon with the sole purpose of obliterating the world, friends, and love she has struggled to save. If Claire has any chance of saving those she loves, she must delve deeper into the Hellion world, and witness nightmares she could never imagine. In Westraven, Sawyer Kendric is desperate to find the woman he loves. To do so, he must finally embrace his family’s atrocious past and heal the wounds it has caused. He will be forced to make new allies, uncover secrets that change all he knows, and find the courage to lead a ragtag crew into the darkest, deadliest battle of their lives. Claire and Sawyer fight to save their broken world in the final installment of the epic DARK SKY trilogy. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29963554-obsidian-sky?ac=1&from_search=true Purchase previous books in the series: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=amy+braun+dark+sky B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Amy%20Braun%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/author/amy-braun/id444361248?mt=11 Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/search?query=Dark%20Sky&fcsearchfield=Series&seriesId=c7d5f2f7-fe40-5d9b-bda7-8d4bf0c8596d AUTHOR BIO: Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for "author voice, world-building and general bad-assery," and the One Book Two Standout Award in 2015 for her Cursed trilogy. She has been featured on various author blogs and publishing websites, and is an active member of the Writing GIAM and Weekend Writing Warrior communities. When she isn't writing, she's reading, watching movies, taking photos, gaming, and struggling with chocoholism and ice cream addiction. Author links: https://twitter.com/amybraunauthor http://amybraunauthor.com/ https://www.facebook.com/amybraunauthor/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8452020.Amy_Braun
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May - August Wrap-Up! Hi Guys, so if you saw my 'April - May Wrap-Up', then you'll understand what's going on and that the title isn't a mistake. Long story short, things happened and I didn't upload any wrap-ups for a long time and then after that I just didn't feel like I could after missing so many previously. However, the other day I was feeling strangely productive and motivated to start again so I wrote my 'April - May Wrap-Up' post and therefore am back with my 'May - August Wrap-Up'. If you haven't read my previous wrap-up, it is linked here - and will also be linked at the end (if I remember!). Anyway, let's get into the wrap-up! Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith Date Started - 26/5/2016 Date Finished - 5/6/2016 I was sent a copy of this book for review, but never had the time to write the review and then it was too long afterwards that I felt I couldn't remember it well enough to write a full review. So, this will just have to do as some sort of mini-review. I'd wanted to read this book for so long, so when I saw it on bookbridgr, I just had to request it and I was also lucky enough to be sent it. I did really enjoy Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between, but certain things frustrated me a tiny bit throughout the book, mainly the characters when they did/didn't do something. However, I did like the book and loved the ending. Rate - 3.5 - 4/5 ttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23369370-hello-goodbye-and-everything-in-between?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Hello--Goodbye--and-Everything-in-Between/9781472221056 Read Me Like A Book by Liz Kessler Date Started - 20/6/2016 Date Finished - 3/8/2016 This book was one of the books I had to read as part of a book club I was in. I'd heard about the book beforehand, but didn't really know what it was about. The book features Ashleigh Walker, a girl, as she tries to figure out who she really is. In her life there are a lot of problems; friendships, family life and exams and this is all before she starts to fancy her English teacher (Miss Murray). This then starts her journey as she tries to work out who she really is while dealing with the other problems going on in her life. I really loved Read Me Like A Book and especially enjoyed the ending when she finally stood up for herself and wasn't afraid to say who she is. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27911715-read-me-like-a-book BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Read-Me-Like-a-Book/9781780622101 How Hard Can Love Be? (Normal #2) by Holly Bourne Date Started - 5/8/2016 Date Finished - 6/8/2016 I absolutely love both Holly's books and her writing style. She is one of my favourite authors and I just adore both her books and her as a person as well. This is the sequel/companion to Am I Normal Yet? (AINY?). You can read it on its own I think, but I think you'd get the most out of the books if you read them in order and also why wouldn't you want to read both, they're amazing! One of the many things I loved about AINY? was the depth to the characters and also the relationships between the different characters. Holly took this to a whole other level with HHCLB?. A lot of new characters were introduced, but each one had something unique about themselves and that's one of the many things I love about Holly's writing; she makes each characters stand out and almost feel real. With new characters came new relationships, but my favourite character relationship will always be the strong bond between Evie, Amber and Lottie. No matter what they go through, they're always there for each other. Overall, I think this was an amazing sequel/companion to AINY? and it made me love Holly and her books even more, if that's even possible. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26255907-how-hard-can-love-be?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/How-Hard-Can-Love-be-/9781409591221 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (#2) by J.K. Rowling Date Started - 7/8/2016 Date Finished - 11/8/2016 I'm limited to what I can say about this as it is Harry Potter and most people have read it or know what it's about. However, if you haven't read it then please do, as I'm currently reading the series for the first time and I'm loving it! I can't believe I've gone this long without reading them before! As I said above, I am currently reading the series for the first time and I can say I'm absolutely loving being able to take my time with them and fully take in everything. With each book I read from this series, I fall in love just a bit more with the characters and the series and it's honestly the best feeling. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224912.Harry_Potter_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Harry-Potter-and-the-Chamber-of-Secrets-J-K-Rowling/9781408855669?ref=grid-view The Boy With Hawk-Like Eyes (Sprite Sisters #6) by Sheridan Winn Date Started - 24/8/2016 Date Finished - 25/8/2016 I was sent an ebook copy of this book in trade for an honest review as part of a blog tour. I do therefore have a full review up, which I will link below. This is the sixth book in the Sprite Sisters series, but it can be read as a standalone, which is how I read it. I really enjoyed this book and loved the storyline and will definitely read some of the other books in the series. Rate - 4.5/5 Review - http://sprinkleofbooks.weebly.com/blog/spoiler-free-review-the-boy-with-hawk-like-eyes-sprite-sisters-6-by-sheridan-winn GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13819364-the-boy-with-hawk-like-eyes?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Sprite-Sisters-The-Boy-with-Hawk-Like-Eyes-Part-6-Sheridan-Winn/9780957164802 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (#3) by J.K. Rowling Date Started - 27/8/2016 Date Finished - 28/8/2016 This is the third book in the Harry Potter series and as I said previously I do really adore this series and each book just seems to increase my love for them. I'm really looking forward to continuing on with the series and discovering more about this unique world Rowling has created. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/464164.Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Harry-Potter-and-the-Prisoner-of-Azkaban-J-K-Rowling/9781408855676?ref=grid-view She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick Date Started - 28/8/2016 Date Finished - 30/8//2016 This book had been on my TBR for quite a long time before I picked it up and to be honest, I'd sort of forgotten about it until I was going through my bookshelves. I'm so glad I found it and finally decided to read it! I wish I'd read this book sooner as it was just so unique and interesting. It kept my attention from start to finish hence why I finished it sort of quicker than usual. This book had a really interesting storyline and it was great to see a blind girl as the main character, as I've never read a book where there is one. I love how the story flowed and how you would suddenly discover things and how easy it was to click things together to get the full picture. It was something different to what I normally read and I ended up really loving it. I would thoroughly recommend this book! Rate - 4-4.5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17839197-she-is-not-invisible?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/She-is-Not-Invisible-Marcus-Sedgwick/9781780621098?ref=grid-view Well, that was my May - August Wrap-Up! Let me know if you've read any of the books above and what you thought of them!
BYE! April/May Wrap-Up! You might be a bit confused by the title, but I haven't made a mistake, this post is my April and May Wrap-Up. I seemed to run out of time the last few months and never managed to actually write and post my wrap-ups and I just don't want to carry on from where we are now, when I've missed out on so many, so I'm going to do a few catch up posts. This is around the point where I started going into a reading slump (which lasted about 3 or 4 months, ugh :( ), so I didn't read enough if anything each month to do singular wrap-ups, so I'm going to combine them like this. This one will be April and May in which I finished a total of 7 books. I have got a post coming up, which has a few mini-reviews for some of the contemporary books I read around these few months, so I won't be talking much about certain books in these catch up wrap-ups as I have written a mini-review for them, which will hopefully be up before this post, if not it will be up soon! Anyway, let's get into the wrap-up! The Search For The Crystal Key by Eileen Sheehan Date Started - 23.3.2016 Date Finished - 2.4.2016 This is a continuation/sequel to Dark Escape by Eileen Sheehan, which I really enjoyed. I was sent both books for review from Eileen (Thank you!). I read the first half of this book in March, but finished it in April, which is why it's in this wrap-up. I did write a full review for this a while back, which I'll link below as well as my review for Dark Escape by Eileen Sheehan. Overall, I did really love both The Search For The Crystal Key and Dark Escape, and I think I rated them roughly the same. Rate - 4.25 (ish)/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29352056-the-search-for-the-crystal-key-a-continuation-of-dark-escape?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Search-for-the-Crystal-Key-Eileen-Sheehan/9780692630037 Dark Escape Review - http://sprinkleofbooks.weebly.com/blog/spoiler-free-review-dark-escape-by-eileen-sheehan The Search For The Crystal Key Review - http://sprinkleofbooks.weebly.com/blog/spoiler-free-review-the-search-for-the-crystal-key-a-dark-escape-continuation-by-eileen-sheehan Eileen Sheehan Q&A - http://sprinkleofbooks.weebly.com/blog/author-qa-with-eileen-sheehan Waiting For Callback by Perdita & Honor Cargill Date Started - 1.4.2016 Date Finished - 5.4.2016 This book is one of the contemporary book I've written a mini-review for, which will be up soon if not already. When I picked this book up and read the synopsis, it definitely gave me Geek Girl (by Holly Smale) feels, though Waiting For Callback features acting instead of modelling. Most of you will probably know from how often I go on about it, but I really love the Geek Girl series, so I was really excited to read this. Overall, I did really enjoy this book, but I felt as if there was something missing, but I don't know what that something is/could be. However, I did mention above that this was around the time where I started feeling a bit reading slumpish, so it could've just been that. I'm thinking of giving this a re-read in the next couple of months and I guess I'll be able to tell then. Rate- 4/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25721422-waiting-for-callback?from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Waiting-for-Callback/9781471144837 Mini - Review - Geek Girl: Head Over Heels (#5) by Holly Smale Date Started: ?/4/2016 Date Finished: 15/4/2016 As some of you may know from the amount I talk about this series when it's relevant, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this series! This is one of the first series I read when I started to get back into reading about 1 + years ago, and it was one of the reasons that I fell back in love with reading. I can't thank Holly enough for this amazing series and for creating such loveable characters! I will forever be thankful for this series. Anyway, just with like every book in this series, I loved Head Over Heels and after anticipating it's release for months, the feeling I felt when I had this book in my hands was the best. If you have not yet read this series, please at least look it up on Goodreads or something and give it a go as I would really love for more people to enjoy this seriesas much as I do. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26094860-head-over-heels BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Head-Over-Heels-Holly-Smale/9780007574650?ref=grid-view Hey! Don't forget the sunscreen! by Kimberling Galeti Kennedy Date Started: 16/4/2016 Date Finished: 16/4/2016 I was kindly sent this book (along with another, which I'll talk about further on) from the author in trade for an honest review. As I was sent this quite a while ago, I do have a review up already, which I will link below. This book was fun to read, but carried an important message at the same time. The illustrations were great and I thought it was a great idea that Kimberling talked about an important subject, like the effects of too much sun, in a book for children. Overall, I quite enjoyed this book and think it is a great one for little children to read. Rate - 3.5-4/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17336457-hey-don-t-forget-the-sunscreen?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Hey-Dont-Forget-the-Sunscreen-Kimberling-Galeti-Kennedy/9781622956401 (CURRENTLY UNAVALIABLE) REVIEW - http://sprinkleofbooks.weebly.com/blog/mini-reviews-do-dogs-prayhey-dont-forget-the-sunscreen-by-kimberling-galeti-kennedy Do Dogs Pray? by Kimberling Galeti Kennedy Date Started: 16/4/2016 Date Finished: 16/4/2016 As you can probably guess, this was the other book Kimberling sent me. I personally ended up loving this more than 'Hey! Don't Forget The Sunscreen!', but both book are great. The illustrations in this book were also brilliant and really added to the story, which overall was a great idea. I loved the idea of the book and I know that if I was a little kid, this book would probably be one of my favourites. Overall, both books Kimberling kindly sent me were great and I really enjoyed how different the books were. Rate - 4-4.5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29065902-do-dogs-pray?from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Do-Dogs-Pray-Kimberling-Galeti-Kennedy/9781682933831 REVIEW - http://sprinkleofbooks.weebly.com/blog/mini-reviews-do-dogs-prayhey-dont-forget-the-sunscreen-by-kimberling-galeti-kennedy Apple & Rain by Sarah Crossan Date Started: 17/4/2016 Date Finished: 17/4/2016 I'd wanted to read this book for the longest time, but had never bought it. However, I ended up reading it because it was a pick for a book club my friends had set up, and I was so excited to read it. I think it's pretty obvious how much I loved this book, see as I managed to read it in one sitting, which never really happens anymore. I thought the story was quite different to something I'd read before and I loved the storyline and how different each character was to each other. It is definitely one of my favourites I've read so far this year and I definitely want to get my own copy sometime soon. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22171851-apple-and-rain?ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Apple-and-Rain/9781408827130 Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman Date Started: 18/4/2016 Date Finished: 18/5/2016 This was another book club pick, but it happened to be at a time when I was just coming in or out of a reading slump (can't remember which), hence why it took me so long to get through. Wildflower Hill did take me a while to get into, but after a while I was absolutely loving it even though it seemed to take quite a while for me to get through. I thought the storyline was really interesting and I liked how it switched between the different time periods (1930's to modern day). Despite it taking me ages to read (reading slump), I did end up really loving it, even though I'd never heard of it before. Rate - 4.5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17018901-wildflower-hill BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Wildflower-Hill/9781780877082 SO, that was all of the book I read in April and May. Sorry for the major delay of this post, but I'm hoping to get back on track soon and start planning a blog post schedule, so I can make time to write posts as well as upload them. There will be some more random, combined-month wrap-ups coming soon for the last few months that I've missed. I had a bit of a reading slump, so some of the months will be short/empty so I can combine them together. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and let me know what books you read in April/May or your favourite book you read then, if you can remember! BYE! Mini-Reviews: Recent Contemporary Reads - Am I Normal Yet (Normal #1) by Holly Bourne, 7 Days by Eve Ainsworth, Waiting For Callback by Perdita & Honor Cargill Recently I've been in quite a big contemporary kick so naturally I've been reading quite a few contemporary books. I've found some new favourites and I thought that instead of writing full reviews for each of them, that I may as well all combine them together in just one post. So for each one I'm just going to write a paragraph or so on my thoughts and try and keep this post brief, but you all know that never really happens, so this post may end up quite long.. :/ Title - Am I Normal Yet? Series - Normal (#1) Author - Holly Bourne Pages - 434 Pages Date Started - 29.2.16 Date Finished - 4.3.16 Synopsis - All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list… But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love? I've wanted to read this book for so long, like literally since it was released. I've nearly purchased it so many times in Waterstones, but have always put it back down. Back in February, Holly released a set of tour dates for her latest book in this companion series, How Hard Can Love Be?, and I saw that she was doing a 'very special event' in Manchester. I literally screamed. Not many authors do events in Manchester, well YA and children's authors anyway, so I was sooo excited. It was labelled as being a 'very special event' and details wouldn't be released until about a week before the event. I was constantly checking Twitter to see if she'd announced it and one day she had. She was going to be doing a feminism talk and book signing with Eve Ainsworth, author of 7 Days and Crush. Anyway, my mum bought me tickets for me and her and we went and I loved it. They were both so lovely and it was so ice to meet them and get my books signed, though I basically stood there like an awkward potato but anyway. A couple days before the event, I wanted to at least read Am I Normal Yet? before the event so I started reading it. I was not expecting to fall in love with this book as much as I did. If you don't already know, then Evie, the main character, has a OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and is trying to get off her meds and go back to being 'normal'. I really loved Evie's character and I admire Holly for writing about not an exactly easy topic to talk about. I feel like she wrote about the topic in a realistic and great way. This book was like an emotional rollercoaster. I cried (I never really cry at books), I laughed, I was angry. It was just amazing and I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Just read it! Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23592235-am-i-normal-yet?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Am-I-Normal-Yet-/9781409590309 AMAZON - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-I-Normal-Yet/dp/1409590305/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1460819276&sr=1-1&keywords=am+i+normal+yet Title - 7 Days Author - Eve Ainsworth Pages - 246 Pages Date Started - 29.3.16 Date Finished - 30.3.16 Synopsis - This bold, compelling and topical story about bullying is told from the perspective of the bully and the bullied. You won't be able put it down until you've reached the conclusion. Jess's life is difficult enough without Kez picking on her – it’s turning school from a safe place into a nightmare. Kez has plenty of problems too but she finds comfort in knowing she is better off than Jess - or so she thinks. A hard-hitting and even-handed look at bullying and the issues facing teenagers today. As mentioned above, I also got to meet Eve and get my books signed. She was so lovely and I really enjoyed the talk from the pair. I did say a while back that I was going to do a whole post about the afternoon, but I just haven't had time. If this is a thing you guys would still like to say then please say so below! Anyway, I just decided to pick this up one afternoon last month, just to read the first couple of pages to see if I want to read it soon. Well those few pages turned into chapters and by the next day I'd read the whole book. Just like Am I Normal Yet?, this book also deals with important topics that we should really talk more about than what we do. The main topic in this book is bullying and what it can lead to. Despite the book being quite short, you really get a feel for what the characters are going through (the bully and the kid being bullied). You realise that both of them have problems at home and these things they keep secret and its dragging them down. This book was really refreshing and I just fell in love with it from the first page and continued to love it till the last word. The ending I found to be guessable and I sort of expected that to happen quite early on, but didn't take away my love for this book whatsoever. I really recommend this book to everyone as it's such an important book and I cant understand why more people haven't read it. So. Read it. Just read it. Now. Rate - 5/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18679049-seven-days?from_search=true&search_version=service Title - Waiting For Callback Authors - Perdita & Honor Cargill Pages - 340 Pages Date Started - 1.4.16 Date Finished - 5.4.16 Synopsis - Geek Girl meets Fame meets New Girl in this brilliantly funny new series! When Elektra is discovered by an acting agent, she imagines Oscar glory can't be far away, but instead lurches from one cringe-worthy moment to the next! Just how many times can you be rejected for the part of 'Dead Girl Number Three' without losing hope? And who knew that actors were actually supposed to be multi-lingual, play seven instruments and be trained in a variety of circus skills? Off-stage things aren't going well either - she's fallen out with her best friend, remains firmly in the friend-zone with her crush and her parents are driving her crazy. One way or another, Elektra's life is now spent waiting for the phone to ring - waiting for callback. Can an average girl-next-door like Elektra really make it in the world of luvvies and starlets? I'd seen this book on twitter and Instagram etc but never really bothered to see what it was about. All I knew was that it was a YA contemporary. I went to a shopping centre about just over an hour away from where I live (I go there every so often, mainly in the holidays, but it can get very busy) and about 5 minutes from there, there is a huge Asda Walmart and there book section is literal heaven. They have the most YA, Middle Grade and Children's books that I have ever seen in a supermarket and they're a lot cheaper than bookstore prices as well. All the paperbacks were 2 for £7 and hardbacks are around £6 or £7 each. I saw that they had this there and I was like I may as well pick it up for this price and just give it a go. When I bought this, I wasn't really expecting to read it for a while, summer at the earliest. Well, that same day I started reading it. It reminded me of the amazing Geek Girl series by Holly Smale, which you should all read if you haven't already, before I even read the promotion line thing/synopsis thing saying it's a mix of Geek Girl and something else. I really enjoyed this book, though I think it did take me quite a while longer to get through than I thought it would. I enjoyed the story and really liked the coverall concept, but just thought something was missing. I got confused at times with the different auditions and which ones Elektra had heard back from and the ones she hadn't. I felt it was the same thing sort of happening all the time, she would go to an audition and she would either get it or not hear back. Then she would get an email from the agency listing her for another audition. I get that would be what happened but I felt like there was no big twist/event to really make the story. However, I really loved the story and the characters. I especially loved the ending and thought it was a great way to end the first book in the series. I can't wait to read more! Rate - 4/5 GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25721422-waiting-for-callback?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Waiting-for-Callback/9781471144837 BYE! |
AuthorHello and welcome to Books With Beth! I'm Beth and on this blog I share a mix of all my bookish thoughts through reviews, book tours and hauls. Have fun! Categories
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