Summer Reading Lust List!

I'm taking a break from a cozy date with my Plant Bio textbook....to browse some books that I want to read this summer. They are from a variety of genres and authors - here are a few!

The Wise Man's Fear (KingKiller Chronicles, Day 2), by Patrick Rothfuss

Warm Bodies, by Issac Marion (recommended by the Book Smugglers)

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, Book 4), by Cassandra Clare.

Arson, by Estevan Vega

The Red Glove (The Curseworkers, Book 2), by Holly Black

The Hunger Games Trilogy: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, all by Suzanne Collins

Bleeding Violet, by Dia Reeves

Ash, by Malinda Lo (again recommended by the Book Smugglers)

What are you reading this summer?

Book Review: The Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Since this summer, I have been hearing tons and tons of hype about the two books in the Caster Chronicles Series - Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. This winter, I was finally able to lay my hands on these two novels, and got to reading them straightaway.

**WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!! 

Beautiful Creatures (Book 1)

The book introduces you to the protagonist, Ethan Wate, who has lived in Gaitlin, North Carolina for all this life and is itching to get out. Then he meets the strange new girl at school, Lena Duchannes, niece of the town shut-in, Macon Ravenwood. In one strange meeting, they both come to realize that they have been dreaming about each other since long before they met. Lena shies away, but Ethan wants to know what is going on, and why they have this connection.
From here everything spirals out - an uneasy friendship, a whirlwind romance, a curse, some totally cool supernatural relatives, an underground library, a moody mansion, and one really, REALLY evil mom.
I quite enjoyed reading this novel. The writing was very rich and detailed, and described everything from the townsfolk, to the mouthwatering Southern food to the Caster mythology in great detail. The characters seemed pretty well developed. I loved watching Lena and Ethan's friendship develop into a romantic relationship - it was paced well and quite realistic. I burned through the whole book in about two days, leaving time for eating and showering, because I was itching to finish and it and solve the mystery. As a gothic mystery, it worked really well for me and I really enjoyed the read.

Beautiful Darkness (Book 2)

Most unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the second book. It picked up right where the first one left off, BUT there was so.much.angst.! It seems that as Lena pulled away, Ethan let her, instead of going after her (on multiple occasions). The first half of the book dragged, and nothing much happened except for more.angst. The moment the pace picked up however, I really got into the book and burned through it in one day, again waiting to find out conclusion. BUT again,  not that much actually happens in this novel's conclusion, since it is set up as a cliffhanger for a third (perhaps final?) volume.

Overall, I would give the books about 6.5 or 7 out of 10. My favorite characters in the series have definitely got to be Amma (she is so badass) and Ridley (evil, but a lot of fun to read!).

The Summer Reading Lust List....Continued!

But perhaps it should now be renamed as the Winter Reading Lust List instead? Hm...

Anyway, so it turns out that my Summer Reading Lust List remained very much unfinished! With so much going on, including my internship, traveling, dance, and more, I hardly came close to reading everything I wanted. Thus, this winter break, I made several trips to the my local library and walked out with about 10 books each time (much to to the chagrin of my parents who were wondering what I was going to do with thirty novels in my room!). So....I've finished so far:

Split, by Swati Avasthi
Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi
White cat, by Holly Black
Gone, by Lisa McMann

Still to finish within the next few days --

Beautiful Darkness, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khalied Hosseini (This is my fifth or sixth read of this book - I simply LOVE this book!)
Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John
Eon: Dragon Reborn, by Alison Goodman
The Ghosts of Asbury High, by Jaclyn Moriarty

The Infernal Devices: The Clockwork Angel

Last Thursday, Cassandra Clare (writer of the Mortal Instruments Series) revealed the cover of the first novel in the Infernal Devices series, The Clockwork Angel. The cover features Will, one of the main characters of the series. I'm a big fan of the Mortal Instruments series, and I cannot wait until Clockwork Angel is released on August 31, 2010 (only five more months!!).

Here is the synopsis of Clockwork Angel (from amazon.com):

Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.
When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all. 

Here is the cover (from amazon.com):

SO EXCITING!!!

The Wake Trilogy

I just recently read about a series called the DreamcatcherTrilogy, by Lisa McMann. The series includes three books - Wake, Fade, and Gone. At first I didn't really pay any attention to the series, but then I read a tiny synopsis and I was hooked! My goal to read the trilogy during my spring break - I cannot wait to get my hands on the books! I've read the excerpts online and I am super super super excited to read the actual books :)

Here is the amazon.com synonpsis of the first novel in the series, Wake:
 Not all dreams are sweet.
For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant.... 

Visit Lisa McMann's website for more information. 

(Images from www.lisamcmann.com)

Lists Lists Lists

Here's a list of titles that I am looking forward to reading this year :)

 A Woman Among Warlords, by Malalai Joya

(Image from malalaijoya.com) 

 

 The White Cat (The Curse Workers), by Holly Black

(Image from blackholly.com) 

The Twentieth Wife, by Indu Sundaresan

(Image from amazon.com)

  The Dark Divine, by Bree Despain

(Image from breedespain.com) 

The Splendor of Silence, by Indu Sundaresan

(Image from fantasticfiction.co.uk)

 The Feast of Roses, by Indu Sundaresan

(Image from fantasticfiction.co.uk)  

 The Clockwork Angel (Infernal Devices Series), by Cassandra Clare
(Image from theinfernaldevices.com)