Review of The UnTied Kingdom by Kate Johnson

Description 
The portal to an alternate world was the start of all her troubles – or was it?
When Eve Carpenter lands with a splash in the Thames, it’s not the London or England she’s used to. No one has a telephone or knows what a computer is. England’s a third world country and Princess Di is still alive. But worst of all, everyone thinks Eve’s a spy.

Including Major Harker who has his own problems. His sworn enemy is looking for a promotion. The general wants him to undertake some ridiculous mission to capture a computer, which Harker vaguely envisions running wild somewhere in Yorkshire. Turns out the best person to help him is Eve.

She claims to be a popstar. Harker doesn’t know what a popstar is, although he suspects it’s a fancy foreign word for ‘spy’. Eve knows all about computers, and electricity. Eve is dangerous. There’s every possibility she’s mad.

And Harker is falling in love with her.

My Thoughts
I didn't know this book existed until my friend Rea from Rea's Reading and Reviews told me how good it was and even gifted me a copy on Amazon. I felt inclined to read it as soon as possible. The description sounds like nothing I've read before, I loved the play on words with the title, as instead of The United Kingdom its UnTied. The cover is soooo amazing and romantic and well BRILLIANT. Overall I can not wait to read it.

It took a few chapters for me to actually get into the book fully but once I was in, there was no chance of taking me away from the book. It was east to read and understand the style of writing. I also felt the emotions of the characters in the book. The storyline is really good and it isn't too complicated. After those few chapters the pace of the book was perfect. I loved what happened in the book, the happy moments, the sad moments, the crazy moments to the omg moments. The POV is around Eve and Harker, the two main characters.

Eve for me sounded boring for a few pages but then BOOM!, I loved her instantly. I love how she deals with being sent to an alternative world. I mean if I were sent there I think I may of had a panic attack and then shot myself. Anyway I love how she helps him out hoping it will make her be set free. The relationships she creates with many people is so wonderful and I am very happy that she didn't just get killed or something.
Harker, well at first I didn't like him, yeah I kinda fell sorry for him now and then but I didn't like him, but 13% through maybe I starting to come to like him, slowly but surely I really did enjoy his presence in the book. He is kind (sometimes), caring (sometimes) and overall a great guy (most of the time).

Tallulah is such a sweet girl or woman. I like how she starts to grow and be strong, she's a fighter and she was kind to Eve when others weren't. She plays a good role on the book and I am glad she was in it.
I loved all the characters, some of them were funny, some were mean and some were very good. The way all the characters were portrayed was very well done. 

My overall opinion of this book is, I loved it so much and I am soooo glad my friend told me about it :D It has everything you need in a romance novel. It wasn't "I see you, I love you.".. it was "mmmm I may grow to like you a lot". 

I recommend this book to everyone who loves a good romance novel :) 

Tara

Rating:

Review of A Strange Fire (Florence Vaine, #1) by L.H. Cosway

Description 
Flo has always had problems. Her stammer prevents her speech and her dad’s abuse makes her life a living hell. Not to mention she sees colours other people don’t.

When her dad decides to ship her off to live with her grandma in the sleepy town of Chesterport, Flo thinks that this is her chance for a better life. But on her very first day at her new school she is ridiculed and laughed at for having a stammer. One student sticks up for her and his name is Frank.

Frank’s body is surrounded by an aura of fire, but Flo is the only one who can see it. He lives in a foster home for troubled teenagers. Flo is drawn to him because he’s different and so is she.

Things are about to get scary, because Chesterport is not your ordinary suburban town. It’s infested by a coven of dark witches who prey on the young and the elderly. Soon Flo discovers that she’s next on their list of victims, and finds herself fighting a battle she never would have imagined possible.

My Thoughts
I was asked to read this by the author, the same author who wrote Tegan's Blood. I have very high hopes for this, as the cover is so wow, very different to other covers I've seen, its well pretty. The title is also very interesting and then the description of the book made me say YES in a heart beat to reading this.

WOW. AMAZING. FANTASTIC. INCREDIBLE AND BRILLIANT.
I am so glad I was asked to read this, because I loved it, if you hadn't figured that out from the above words. Well first of all the introduction, the way the scene is set and how the main character was introduced made me want to read it as quick as I can. The storyline is so different to books I have seen. The pace is easy to read and understand. The ideas in this book is so amazing I was blown away with some. You know when you have found an awesome book when you read, read and read until you have read every word in the book. The descriptions of what was happening, and what they could see was so amazingly done. I do not know how L.H Cosway could be this good, because I know for certain if I ever became an author i wouldn't be able to be as good as her. The POV is centred around Flo the main character.

Flo is such an amazing character, she has had a difficult life and it doesn't stop now. I love how she has a secret and she cant tell anyone, she is such a strong character who deserves a better life that what she got. She deals with being with her Gran and starting a new school really well. She copes through things amazingly well and if I were in her shoes, I think I would be in a room on my own ignoring the world and just giving up, but she doesn't, she never gives up and I love that about her. If I had her talent I would be very very confused with myself.
Frank is a great guy, a mysterious guy and overall amazing. I love his affection towards Flo, how he doesn't care about her stammer and that's what makes her, her. He is caring, considerate and to be totally honest im jealous of Flo :).
Gran is so caring, helpful and she honestly likes Flo, but as the book goes on, you will find out more about her, so I'm not even going to go there.
Franks "family" are also really caring and kind, but I hate how they keep Flo in the dark for such a long time, I wouldn't like I if i didn't know certain things.
I really loved all the characters form the ones who didn't play such an important role to the main characters.

My overall opinion of this book is, I LOVED IT! The characters, storyline, everything made it an amazing book.
I recommend this book to the people who loved Tegan's blood, and who loves YA in general :) WOO!

Thank you L.H.Cosway again for letting me read and review this :)

Tara

Rating:

The Cover Wars: The Demons Lexicon

Rea of Rea's Reading and Reviews and I decided to get together to do a weekly meme where we would compare covers of the UK editions of books with those of the US editions.

The aim of this is to just have a bit of fun. We put ourselves in the position where we see both of these books side by side in the bookstore. Which would we choose? Why that one and not the other?

This week, we will be comparing the UK and US covers of The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. I loved this book so much, and I knew I would be able to finish the trilogy straight away. Hope everyone gets a chance to read this :)

The First book is the US version and the Second one is the UK

version.

Tara says: I have read and loved the UK version of this book. The font they used for the title of the UK version is very interesting and I love how you only see the character’s face. Also those birds seem very interesting. The US version shows the character’s whole body. Not to mention that it has more background and detail to it. The font of the title doesn't stand out in this case and I don't see any birdies. (I suddenly have a fascination with seeing birdies.) I think this one is such a hard choice but in the end I think I may go for the UK version because, to me, it stands out more.

Rea says: These two covers couldn’t be more different. I’m not sure how much I like the smudged style of the UK cover art. But then on the US cover there’s just too much going on – plus that is some majorly weird lighting on his upper body; he looks malformed! Scott Westerfield’s quote on the US version is much more likely to garner my interest than the one by Cassandra Clare on the UK version, though I realise that I may be in the minority there. After some contemplation, I’ve realised that the UK cover art just doesn’t appeal to me so I’m going with the US cover this week.

Score: 

Week 11:      US: 2    UK: 5    Draw: 3

Do you want to join in too? Here’s how:

Step 1: Copy and paste the Cover Wars image.

Step 2: Copy and paste our intro or write your own but it must link back to both of our blogs.

Step 3: Copy and paste the US and UK cover images.

Step 4: Compare the two.

Step 5: Either use our score or keep your own score.

Step 6: Post it and share it!

Thanks and have fun!

Follow Friday 10

Click the image :D

I used to this before.. so I decided to try it again.

Q: Do you read one book at a time or do you switch back and forth between two or more?

A: I normally just read 1 book at a time because if I don't I may get a little confused when writing out my reviews. (I wouldn't want to write the wrong characters in the wrong review would I? lol). When I am reading a book and I am like half way through and then a book I really really want to read comes out, I will stop reading the book I am reading, read that and then go back. 

So what about all of you? Can you read more than 1 book at a time? 




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Review of Howl (Kane Wolves #1) by Annalise Grey

Description
Nineteen year old Sophie Matthews is a line-walker between two worlds - human and werewolf. She lives around humans but is never truly part of their world. That is, until she is spotted by a hiker.
What should have been a passing glance becomes so much more as Sophie falls for the one thing she is forbidden from ever having: a human mate.
Adding to her stress is newcomer Daniel, the arrogant wolf on Sophie's tail.
Then several humans are killed by a mysterious and dangerous beast within the pack's hunting grounds. The humans begin whispering of wolf-men roaming the forest and the threat of discovery looms heavy around the pack.
Everything is falling apart and Sophie realizes just how little control she has over her future.
Will she risk everything - her heart, her family, and her safety - for a chance to control her own fate?

My Thoughts
I heard about this in a group called Basically Books on goodreads which I am part of, as a sort of thing which you can get free copies of a book as long as u read it within a certain time frame and you review it. When I read the description of this book I felt this was straight up my sleeve. All I could think of was, I cant wait to start it. The cover is very pretty and mysterious and it makes me even more excited on reading this. The titles is "howl" and just one word makes you go.. this is going be good.

I really liked this book, I felt the ideas and the concept in the book is good. The storyline is really interesting and I love a good werewolf story. Everything that happened in the book made me want to feel what the others were feeling. There wasn't too much of a certain thing so I felt everything was shared out. The pace of  the story is perfect, so it wasn't too slow and it wasn't too fast. The POV is centred around Sophie.

Sophie is such a likeable girl, I loved her from the start till the end. Throughout the whole book she did what she thought was right, she cared for what others thought of her, but she really wanted to go with her heart instead of doing what everyone wants. She is also very strong, brave and I liked her attitude the whole time.
Jaime is such a sweet, he's caring, lovely and he is just amazing. He reminds me of my bf in some ways. I love his attitude, I love how he understands things thought the book, he isn't pushy and he isn't clingy.
Tristan is caring also, he's Sophie's twin so that understandable. He knows the rules, but he understands why Sophie does what she does, all he wants is his sister to be happy.
Thomas and Gavin are too overprotective, harsh and strict. I know there is pack rules and stuff, so things don't go wrong, but I hate the way they treat Sophie. I can see why they care and that because of being her brothers but still I didn't like it.
Daniel, well I know something was up but didn't know what. I felt he was kind and caring but I didn't want them to be together. No questions about that.
I loved all the other characters as well including the "bad guys". They were all different and they had something unique about themselves.

My overall opinion of this book is, I loved it a lot, but I cant quite put my finger on something which I felt missing. I loved the romance in the book and I also like the WHOLE storyline. I was sad for it too end, and if there is a second, which I hope I cant wait to read that :)
I recommend this book to all people who love wolves in there books, some action, some romance and WHO LOVE YA! :D Brilliant :D

Tara

Rating:

Get A Taste: Carrier of the Mark

Rea of Rea's Reading and Reviews and I often read very different books but sometimes find interesting new books to potentially add to the ever-growing monsters that our TBR piles have morphed into. However, we know that we do not have 100% the same taste and we wanted another way of getting a look at these books...

Do you ever feel like getting a bit of a taster for a book you’ve been thinking of reading but aren’t fully sold on yet? Do you feel like sharing a taster for your current read with the world? Well, here’s your chance.

Each week the random number generator will pick a number between 1 and 100 for books with pages or 1 and 25% for ebooks. We figured that these numbers would keep us out of spoiler territory. Open your book to the specified place and pick a paragraph. Share it with the world!

This week its: 
Page number: 7
Kindle/ebook: 16%


My Teaser:


'I scratched my neck. It always got itchy when I was nervous. And that prickling feeling I'd had in my hands earlier was back, leaving them cold and stiff. I stuck my fingers under my legs, hoping the heat and the pressure would get the circulation working properly again.'


I really liked this book, and it was really hard picking something from page 7 which may make people want to read the book.
Some people have given it really bad ratings but don't just listen to bad ratings also listen to good ones to.




Do you want to join in too? Here’s how:

Step 1: Copy and paste the Get A Taste image.
Step 2: Copy and paste our intro or write your own but it must link back to both of our blogs.
Step 3: Find the designated page for the week.
Step 4: Type out a paragraph or so from your book.
Step 5: Post it and share it!

We would appreciate it if you'd leave a comment letting us know where we can find your post. We'll be sure to pop on by and leave a comment!
Thanks and have fun!

Review of Halflings (Halflings #1) by Heather Burch

Description
After being inexplicably targeted by an evil intent on harming her at any cost, seventeen-year-old Nikki finds herself under the watchful guardianship of three mysterious young men who call themselves halflings. Sworn to defend her, misfits Mace, Raven, and Vine battle to keep Nikki safe while hiding their deepest secret—and the wings that come with.

A growing attraction between Nikki and two of her protectors presents a whole other danger. While she risks a broken heart, Mace and Raven could lose everything, including their souls. As the mysteries behind the boys’ powers, as well as her role in a scientist’s dark plan, unfold, Nikki is faced with choices that will affect the future of an entire race of heavenly beings, as well as the precarious equilibrium of the earthly world.

My Thoughts
I saw this on Netgalley and I read the description and I fell in love with it, it sounded really interesting. The cover of the book is also very pretty and it kind of tells me something of the book. This is the first book I'll be reviewing for Netgalley so I hope its good.

This book was good, I loved the storyline and the ideas in the book, it did keep me reading without me complaining that it was boring. The "love" or "romance" in the book made me drop half a star or so because I felt it was focusing a bit too much on that and leaving the storyline alone. The pace of the book was in on an interesting speed though a bit slow at times. All of the characters had something good about them, but then something bad about them. The POV is focused around Nikki the main female character.

Nikki is such a great character, I loved her throughout the book but I felt something was a bit weird about her, I don't know what, but I felt that. She doesn't wanna be apart of this, not really but she has no chose but to be apart of it. She deals with things quite well under the circumstances. 

Mace is such a kind guy, or halfling. He comes into this to help Nikki and he starts feeling more for her then the others. He would do anything to protect her. I really like Mace hes a good guy and I love how he is so caring.

Raven seems like a bad halfling, but once I got to know him, I started to like him more than Mace (hehe). He also cares for Nikki though he tries not to show that. I like a bit of a bad boy, because even though he acts maybe a little more stronger than the other two, I feel his a big softy at heart.

Vine to me is not as likable as the other two though I do still like him. He does care for her still but I think he just wants to what he was told to do, protect her.

Will to me is to overprotective over Mace, Raven and Vine. I like him because he does care, he wants to do what's right.
I really liked all of the characters in this book, even the ones I hardly knew about. :)

My overall opinion of this book is I loved it, but I felt the falling in love so easily without hardly knowing them is a little off putting.
I would recommend this book to all YA lovers :) Who love reading books, of any type :D

Tara

Rating:

The Cover Wars: Mistress of Rome

Rea of Rea's Reading and Reviews and I decided to get together to do a weekly meme where we would compare covers of the UK editions of books with those of the US editions.

The aim of this is to just have a bit of fun. We put ourselves in the position where we see both of these books side by side in the bookstore. Which would we choose? Why that one and not the other?

This week, we will be comparing the UK and US covers of Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn. I haven't really heard much about this until now, and it does sound like an interesting read.

The First book is the UK version and the Second one is the US

version.

Tara says: The US version looks very old fashioned and boring. It looks like a classic of some sort, though I know it’s not. The UK version is amazing! It looks more modern. That knife/dagger in the cover art just makes me want to know more about the book. There's less going on in the background of the cover and I just feel it’s much better. I'm going with the UK version.

Rea says: If you have not seen the UK cover face to face, you should do. It is even more beautiful when you see the real thing. I could gush about Kate Quinn’s UK covers all day. They’re all so gorgeous! She’s dropped really lucky with her cover artist there. The US cover pales in comparison. It’s pretty in its own way, but it just can’t hold a light to the UK cover. Obviously, I’m going with UK.

Score: 

Week 10:    US: 2   UK: 5   Draw: 2

Do you want to join in too? Here’s how:

Step 1: Copy and paste the Cover Wars image.

Step 2: Copy and paste our intro or write your own but it must link back to both of our blogs.

Step 3: Copy and paste the US and UK cover images.

Step 4: Compare the two.

Step 5: Either use our score or keep your own score.

Step 6: Post it and share it!

Thanks and have fun!

Review of TimeRiders (TimeRiders #1) by Alex Scarrow

Description 
Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026. Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared and said, 'Take my hand ...'

But Liam, Maddy and Sal aren't rescued. They are recruited by an agency that no one knows exists, with only one purpose - to fix broken history. Because time travel is here, and there are those who would go back in time and change the past. That's why the TimeRiders exist: to protect us. To stop time travel from destroying the world...

My Thoughts
I didn't even know this existed, until I pre-ordered the last Artemis Fowl book, and got it for free. I read the blurb and went "Yep it sounds good to me". The cover is very interesting and it stands out well. I love that writing part below the title, it just gives you that extra push to read it. Overall I really cant wait to read it.

I really haven't read anything like this before, I got confused in times, but I loved a load of the book. The storyline is time travelling and its just amazing. The start of the book made me want to read more, and I am glad I read this. It was weird but great and I loved the characters in this book. The pace is not to fast and not to quick which makes reading it so easy. I loved the fact it kept changing from one year to another because that meant you weren't missing anything from the book.

Liam O’Connor is originally from 1912, so waken up in a different year would be very hard for him to cope with. He has more to learn than Maddy and Sal, and he copes with everything in a really good way. He tries his hardest with everyone, he is brave, kind and very caring towards certain people.
Maddy Carter is originally from 2010, so when she was waken up in a year close to hers, it wasn't as bad as Liam, but it was still a shock to her. She is very kind, and she helps Liam understand what has changed etc.
Sal Vikram is from the year 2026, so she has learnt stuff which has happened in 1912, and 1010 maybe at her school or something. She knows what happens in life. I think out of all 3, she copes with it the best, she's like a kind of mother figure to the other 2. I like her a lot.
Foster is the one who saved their life's just minutes before they were originally going to die. He's a strange guy, and at first I thought he was going to be a bad guy. He's kind and supportive, but I think he's a little too strict at times, and maybe a bit harsh.
BoB well I cant say much about him but he's a funny character and liked him to bit.
There is other character who play important roles but I think the ones above are the main, main characters. All characters were amazing in there unique way.

My overall opinion of this book is, I loved it, but felt some things lacked, I felt confused in times, but mostly I enjoyed it. It was definitely something I haven't read before. Brilliant read.
I would recommend this book to people who love time travel, YA and maybe people who don't mind some history :)

Tara

Rating:

Follow Friday 9

Click the image :D

I used to this before.. so I decided to try it again.

Q: What is the longest book you’ve read? What are your favorite 600+ page reads?

A: The High Lord (Black Magician Trilogy #3) by Trudi Canavan is my longest read with 656 pages according to goodreads. 


As according to goodreads I only have a couple of over 600 pages books, I will have to go with Death Bringer (Skulduggery Pleasant #6) by Derek Landy as my favourite book :) 

Follow me and give a link to your blog and I will follow you back :) 

Get A Taste: Uglies

Rea of Rea's Reading and Reviews and I often read very different books but sometimes find interesting new books to potentially add to the ever-growing monsters that our TBR piles have morphed into. However, we know that we do not have 100% the same taste and we wanted another way of getting a look at these books...

Do you ever feel like getting a bit of a taster for a book you’ve been thinking of reading but aren’t fully sold on yet? Do you feel like sharing a taster for your current read with the world? Well, here’s your chance.

Each week the random number generator will pick a number between 1 and 100 for books with pages or 1 and 25% for ebooks. We figured that these numbers would keep us out of spoiler territory. Open your book to the specified place and pick a paragraph. Share it with the world!

This week its: 
Page number: 40
Kindle/ebook: 20%


My Teaser:

'"Pretty generic, Tally."
"Oh come on! I worked on this one for a long time. I think I'd look great this way. There's a whole Cleopatra thing going on."
"You know," Shay said, "I read that the real Cleopatra wasn't even that great-looking. She seduced everyone with how clever she was."


This was like the first series I read, the first book I read for me to get into books, without the Uglies series I wouldn't be reading today. So if you have heard about this, or you have seen this and not bought it, GO ON! buy it :D 




Do you want to join in too? Here’s how:

Step 1: Copy and paste the Get A Taste image.
Step 2: Copy and paste our intro or write your own but it must link back to both of our blogs.
Step 3: Find the designated page for the week.
Step 4: Type out a paragraph or so from your book.
Step 5: Post it and share it!

We would appreciate it if you'd leave a comment letting us know where we can find your post. We'll be sure to pop on by and leave a comment!
Thanks and have fun!

Review of Flying Blind (The Dragon Diaries #1) by Deborah Cooke

Description 

Zoë Sorensson is perfectly normal, except she's been told she's destined for great things. Zoë's the one female dragon shapeshifter of her kind. But Zoë is at the bottom of the class when it comes to being Pyr and her powers are AWOL, so she's sent to a Pyr boot camp.

Zoë quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday, because the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line-unless Zoë and her friends can work together and save their own kind.

My Thoughts
Look at the cover, I love the cover, the dragon part of it is just stunning, the fact she looks like she wants to tell me something and her eyes are so stunning. The title is also very intriguing. The main reason for me to read this was because my sister said it was good and said I could read it. Never say no to a book.

I am glad I didn't say no, because I loved it. From start to finish more stuff kept happening for me to go "I want more, I need more". I think I read the first 2 chapters and then I was like, I am so glad I'm reading this. This book has an interesting storyline, and great ideas thrown into the book. The pace of the book was in an interesting pace and it kept me reading until the very end, and even then I wanted more. The characters in this book are well thought out, and also the emotions in this book was well done. The concept of being a shapeshifter is very interesting (I really want to be a shapeshifter). The POV is focused around the main character Zoë.

Zoë is such a brave and amazing girl, she's known that she's the only female Pyr but she hasn't got any powers ,well none she knows about. In this book she does things which she thinks is right, she solves problems which no others have, and she goes through some hard stuff. She's strong and confident when she needs to be.

Megan is Zoë's friend in school, she's not in this book much, but I feel sorry for her as she cant know what Zoë is.
Nick, Liam, Garrett are Zoë's friends and they are Hot there to go to boot camp too. They play a big part in this book because they help Zoë throughout the book, until something happens and it seems they are turning against her. Out of all of these 3 boys, I preferred Liam, to me he was the kindest and most supportive of Zoë.
Jared at first I wasn't too keen on him, he came out of the blue, and I felt something was wrong, but as i got more into the book I realised he's a nice and kind guy who really does want to help Zoë.
Isabelle to me seemed like a stuck up girl, but as the book went on, I really started to like her. She helps when she can and she is a really nice girl.
Adrian, when I first met him in the book I had warning signs in my head saying "He's trouble". He helps out everyone and they just go along with it thinking that he is meant to be at the book camp but as Zoë discoverers some stuff not everything is at as it seems.
There is more characters including her Dad and many more but I feel this book revolved more around these as they were all at the boot camp and they were all with Zoë. I loved most of the characters even the evil and mean ones.

My overall opinion of this book is, it was amazing and stunning. I loved the whole book. There wasn't a time where I felt it was boring and to have a need to put it down. I read it so quickly because I loved it.
I would recommend this book to EVERYONE who reads YA, who loves a book about dragons or shapeshifter's.

Tara

Rating: