Author: The Novel Girl

Just A Little August Update

Posted on by The Novel Girl

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to say hi and give you guys a little update on my reading for the year, so far. I have already exceeded my reading goal for the year, granted a good bit of that was re-reading series that I read again every year (*cough* Harry Potter *cough*), but still! A lot of that has been due to this blog, so I thank you for keeping me going. It has been a bit stressful, with having to change blog sites, and only being able to recover so many reviews, but overall it has been a lot of fun. There are still a lot of books to be read this year, and a lot of reviews to be written, so thanks for hanging with me and making me at least somewhat relevant. 🙂

So far, my best book of the year is still Chemical Burn by Quincy J. Allen. That review was, thankfully, one that I was able to recover, so it is on the site. It was amazing, and I am so glad that I was privileged enough to be chosen to review it for him. If you are a sci-fi fan, you have to read it! I still think about it after all of this time, and I need more of it in my life… I’m looking at you Mr. Allen! Here’s the cover again, so that you can find it:

chemical burn

Thanks again for following the blog! Love you guys!!

-T

The Selection (The Selection Series, Book 1)

Posted on by The Novel Girl

the selection

Author: Kiera Cass

Series: The Selection Series

Genre: Romance/Dystopian

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 352

Ok, so I honestly had no aspirations of reading this book. While I do enjoy dystopian era books, this is not in the genre that I usually read. Sure, I like a little romance and heat in my novels sometimes (as you can tell, I read a lot of PNR), but something that is geared towards a romance is not really my style. I just grabbed to see what all of the fuss was about; I was curious. That all being said- it was pretty entertaining!

The novel is set in a dystopian type era, where everyone is now in different castes. The higher the caste number, the lower the person is on the social scale. It is highly uncommon for women to marry below their caste. America, however, has had a secret romance going on with Aspen (who is one caste below her) for a couple of years. Along comes “the selection”, where thirty-five women of age are chosen from all different castes to vie for Prince Maxon’s hand. America is convinced by her mother and Aspen that she has to try for it. A week before the selection of the thirty-five Aspen dumps her, saying that he can’t provide for her…then she is chosen. She meets the Prince, and a friendship turns in to more, but Aspen is still in her heart.

This was an entertaining book. It definitely wasn’t my best read of the year, but again, it’s out of my usual genre. If you really enjoy romance, you’ll probably really enjoy it. I am intrigued enough to read on to see how it plays out.

Fire (Seven Realms Trilogy, Book 2 aka A Companion for Graceling)

Posted on by The Novel Girl

fire

Author: Kristin Cashore

Series: Seven Kingdoms Trilogy

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Firebird

Pages: 528

This novel is set during the same time as the original Graceling novel, but it is in a different realm known as The Dells. In this realm, rather than having Gracelings, they have “monster animals”. These monsters can be bugs, birds, raptors, or I the case of Fire- a human monster. Her being a human monster causes other monsters and other humans to be drawn to her. It also gives her the ability to reach in to the minds of other animals and humans. In this uncertain time in The Dells, when war is imminent, Fire must fight a battle within herself to determine whether she is willing to expand on her ability in order to aid the king. He wants her to help him obtain information that he needs to aid his efforts in the coming war. Her doing this may possibly save her own life, as well.

This sequel/companion/whatever they are calling it now (it looks like the series name changed with re-publishing, as well, from Seven Kingdoms to just Graceling Realm) didn’t grab me right off the bat in the way that Graceling did. I won’t say that it started off slowly, it just wasn’t quite as engrossing in the beginning. It did get better pretty quickly, though, and I ended up really enjoying it. It’s not the rave review of Graceling, but it was definitely worth reading.

Alice in Zombieland (The White Rabbit Chronicles, Book 1)

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alice in zombieland

Author: Gena Showalter

Series: The White Rabbit Chronicles

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 416

Ali, Alice Bell, and her sister, Emma, have grown up never being allowed to leave their house after dark. Their father believes that there are some kind of strange monsters out there, that only come out at night, that want to hunt them down and eat them. The problem with his theory is that no one else has seen these monsters, except for her crazy father. That all changed on Ali’s birthday, when she convinced her parents to venture out to Em’s recital… at night. The evening ended in a car crash that changed Ali’s world forever. She saw the monsters, and what they are capable of. Now she must learn to fight them, with the aid of a group that she never dreamed existed, because they’re hunting her now.

Gena Showalter is a master! Confession: this is my first zombie themed read. I’ve never even watched The Walking Dead (I know, I know!). I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not, because I had no idea if zombies would be my thing, but I truly did enjoy it. It had a great story line, along with several sub-plots, so it really held my interest. On to book two!

A Little Update

Posted on by The Novel Girl

Hey! 

I’m finally starting to feel a bit better, so I just wanted to update you guys on my current reads. I’m a bit over a third of the way through Alice in Zombieland and about 3/4 of the way through Fire (Seven Kingdoms Trilogy, Book 2). I’ll have some new reviews up for you this weekend! As always, thanks for following! 

-T 

Graceling (Seven Kingdoms Trilogy, Book 1)

Posted on by The Novel Girl

graceling-cover

Author: Kristin Cashore

Series: Seven Kingdoms Trilogy

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: HMH

Pages: 480

The first novel in this series by award winning author, Kristin Cashore, was engrossing within the first few chapters. This story centers on Katsa, who is the niece to a king in a realm where some people are marked as Gracelings. One can distinguish those who are graced from others by the colors of their eyes. The graces can be anything from cooking, swimming, mind reading, or fighting to Katsa’s grace: killing. Her king uncle uses her as a weapon, and she is growing tired of it. She has formed a counsel which carries out secret missions of justice. During one of the missions she meets Po, another Graceling and prince. They then go on a dangerous mission themselves, where they learn more than they thought possible about themselves, their grace’s, and one another.

I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this novel or not when I first came across it. The beautiful cover and brief description convinced me to give it a try. It didn’t disappoint. All of the characters are well developed and multi-dimensional. The scenery is well visualized and described. It was a cosuming read, and I’ve already got the next one lined up to throw myself in to.

Paper Towns

Posted on by The Novel Girl

paper towns

Author: John Green

Publisher: Speak

Genre: YA/Mystery

Pages: 336

So, as I mentioned before, this was my first John Green book. It’s not the type of book that I normally get in to, but with it having such great reviews (from reviewers and my friends) I decided that I needed to give it a try. It was great! I really enjoyed it.

Quentin and Margo have been neighbors since they were babies, and were friends as children. They grew apart as they grew up, and Margo became a super popular badass, and Quentin was one of the smart, kind of nerdy, quiet kids. Margo did tell the other popular kids that he was off limits, as far as physically pranking or pounding on, but that was about the extent of their relationship….until one night their senior year. Having been cheated on by her boyfriend with another so-called friend, and betrayed by the rest of her friends that knew and didn’t tell her, Margo has had enough. She recruits Quentin to go with her on a series of pranks and hijinks, and then she disappears. No one know s where she ran to, but she ran. Quentin and his friends spend the last month of their senior year trying to make sense of the clues that she left behind to find out where she went, or if she’s even alive.

Green does a great job of character development and scene description. I could really get a sense of who these teens were and what they were seeing. I am a fan! I’ve already picked up Looking for Alaska to read soon!