The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

#2 in The Iron Fey series
Published August 1, 2010 by Harlequin Teen
4 Stars

Goodreads Review
Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.

Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Review:  The first 100 pages of this book are pretty rough, not gonna lie. I was expecting a lot more with the winter court, like what we experienced with the summer court in The Iron King. It felt choppy and rushed, like we were trying to get to the "good stuff" as quickly as possible.  Also, I was not a fan of Meghan crying and moping about Ash during this part of the book.  I wanted her to become less damsel in distress than in The Iron King, not more!  I am not a big fan of that aspect of the series.  I know Meghan has that awesome kick ass-ness in her, I want her to realize it already!

Once we got to Leanansidhe's house though, the book really took off. The story got super interesting, the romance spiced up, and I found the magic I fell in love with in the first book of the series. Ironhorse and Grim were awesome (as usual), Puck really stepped up his sexy, and Ash was his usual brooding (and hothothot) self. Leanansidhe was an excellent character, I really hope to see more of her. There were also some very interesting things foreshadowed about Meghan and her magical abilities, and I think I might know who the "Iron Queen" is, and if I'm guessing right I'm SUPER excited for the next book. 

Overall The Iron Daughter is a very good second book in a trilogy that doesn't feel like a "transition" book.  It has it's own unique story that gets better and better.  I really enjoyed learning more about the iron fey, and while I would have liked more from the winter court, the set up for The Iron Queen is excellent and really shows the author's strong world building abilities.  

Top Ten Tuesday 1/17/2012: Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read X

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.  This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish.  We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new top ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers.  Everyone is welcome to join.  All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating.  If you don't have a blog, just post your answers in the comments.

TOP TEN BOOKS I'D RECOMMEND TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T READ X

1.  Science Fiction/Dystopia - The Road by Cormac McCarthy or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins  If you're looking for an adult book I would look no further than The Road.   It is a true post-apocalyptic book.  There really is no hope, society hasn't bounced back, it's just  barely hanging on, and the writing style is excellent in portraying this bleak feeling (for a similar YA book I'd recommend Blood Red Road by Moira Young.  It's like The Road meets Mad Max).  For a YA book I would recommend The Hunger Games trilogy.  Not only is is super popular, but it's an exciting sci-fi with a really interesting premise (For an adult book I'd recommend Battle Royale and the movie). 

2.  Romance - Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins  I'm not a big romance person, I tend to roll my eyes as sappy chick-flick type books.  But, I really liked Lola.  Yes there are many times where I want to just punch the stupid out of her, but I could really related to her at the same time because I'VE TOTALLY BEEN THERE.  Also, Cricket (despite his horrible name) is a total hottie geek.  

3.  Fantasy - The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques or The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis   These are two series from my childhood that I love.  They're excellent fantasy series that I recommend all the time for kids.  The Redwall books are just adorable, I love the badgers, they're my favorite.  The Chronicles of Narnia are classic children's literature and I would recommend that every kid read them.  (For an adult series it has to be A Game of Thrones).

4.  Paranormal Romance - The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead  I really love this series (even though Blood Promise was a bit of a miss).  The vampire society is really well set up, and the main relationship is totally believable.  Lots of awesome magic, action, and yes, sexy times.

5.  Classics - The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett  This is one of my favorite children's classics.  I was given this when I was a little kid and I've probably read it over 10 times.  I was so enchanted with this book I would play secret garden every spring in my grandmother's garden.  Combine that with the absolutely GENIUS musical written in 1991 and I am totally hooked for life.  (seriously people, check out the musical.  It is one of the best musicals ever written).

6.  Fairy Tale Re-Telling - Cinder by Marissa Meyer  I'm very critical of re-tellings.  There has to be a fine balance between the well known fairy tale core and a new twist that makes it entertaining and new.  Cinder walks that line perfectly.  I love this book, the science fiction is excellent and the character are absolutely wonderful. 

7.  Horror - Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton  Jurassic Park has been one of my favorite movies since I was 5 years old.  I read the book when I was 10, and I fell even more in love.  It's scary and science-y, which is the perfect mix for me.  It is definitely an adult book with lots of scary scenes and adult themes (like man becoming like god-creators for example), but damn do I love this book. 

8.  Mystery - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie  I would go so far as to say Agatha Christie is the #1 mystery writer of all time, and And Then There Were None is her #1 book.  It is perfect.  The pacing of the plot is perfect, I was kept wondering who was the killer the entire time.  And the ending?  All I can say is WOW.

9.  Tough Stuff - The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls by Emilie Autumn  Self Harm.  Mental Illness.  Objectifying Women.  Depression.  Rape.  Suicide.  TAfWVG is an excellent book that is half memoir half historical fantasy that takes a very stark and open look at mental illness and how it is dealt with, or in many cases not dealt with and just pushed under a rug.  Emilie Autumn is a genius, both on stage and in writing.  This book is beautiful, with over 200 glossy full color pages, and is well worth the money.

10.  GLBT - Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan  I think a lot of heterosexual people are a little wary about reading a GLBT book because they're worried about how they will relate to a romantic relationship between two people to which they're not attracted.  I can totally understand this, but Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a story that can relate to anyone.  It's not so much about a gay relationship (though that is a big factor), it's more about being who you are and being comfortable with that person.   

Off the Shelf #12

  Hello everyone and welcome to Off the Shelf!  This is my way of sharing any new books I receive or buy as well as let you all know what my reading plans are for the week and what I hope to get off my TBR shelf.

Finished Reading:

 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

 

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Currently Reading:

 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Up Next:

 

Why We Broke UP by Daniel Handler

 

 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

#1 in The Mortal Instrument series
Published in 2007 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
3 Stars

Goodreads Review
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? 

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Review:  City of Bones has some really awesome things going for it, and some not so awesome things as well.  This review is going to be a little different because I'm going to make a pros and cons list.  Because I feel like it.  And I can do what I want.


Pros

• The Setting - I almost always love books set in New York City.  It's one of my most favorite places in the world, and I loved the whole paranormal underground club scene. 
• Snark and Sarcasm - I can be a pretty cynical beyotch when I want to be, so I found myself giggle-snorting at a lot of the one liners and quips that the characters toss at each other.
• HOTHOTHOTHOT - Jace may be an a-hole, but he's a sexy a-hole.
• Clary is a red head - She's a pretty good heroine.  She deals with all of the bad stuff that happens to her and doesn't take shit.  She's not afraid to stand up for herself and that is awesome.
• Shadowhunter Mythology - I really enjoyed the overall mythology and I think there's a lot of cool stuff to develop in future books. 

Cons

• Repeating the same stuff over and over - There were just too many repeated jokes, references, and phrases for me to really enjoy the writing.  I HATE it when the same adjective gets used twice on a page, and I kept noticing that happening (Brindle.  All the time.  Everyone and everything is brindle colored).  It's called a thesaurus.  Get one.
• Every character is the same - All of the characters have the same sarcastic sense of humor and after a while they all blended together into one giant ball of snark.
• Random plot tangents - There were a lot of sub-plots that didn't really support the main story arc.  I would read a hundred pages and then go "why did we just do that?"  They serve absolutely no purpose for the main story.
• GROSS - I'm not going to spoil anything, but ew.  People who've read it know what it is.  One of the plot points takes a really icky turn that I just do not like to read about.  I was not please that that's the way the story went.

Overall City of Bones has a lot of potential, but I think it was failed by its editors.  I am excited to read the next book in the series because even though I was not in love with this book there were a lot of great moments.  I'm hoping that as the series continues some of the technical kinks will be worked out so the awesome story idea can shine through.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Published January 10, 2012 by Dutton Juvenile
5 Stars


Goodreads Review
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.


Review:  I need to put a disclaimer on this review that I highly doubt this review will adequately describe just how much this book means to me.  I've always been a fan of John Green's work, but The Fault in Our Stars takes him to a new category.  There are definitely still the elements that make it a John Green book, such as teens that have a better vocabulary than most dictionaries, references to obscure books, music, and lots of poetry, and in-depth analyses of the meaning of life.  But with The Fault in Our Stars, he does this better than any book he's written before.  Yes these teens are maybe too smart, and yes I had to look up a word more than once, but never the less this book looks at death, love, and illness in a way that is so REAL.  


First I want to give you a little background on where I'm coming from, and why Hazel in particular touched me on a very personal level.  When I was 14 (just about to enter high school), I had to go to the doctor for a routine checkup.  I had some basic bloodwork done, then went home to await the results.  I got a call at 1:00 AM that night saying I had to go to the hospital right then and there.  It turns out my platelet count (they're in your blood and cause it to clot) was so low I was considered a "medical emergency" (An average count is 150,000 - 500,000.  I was at 7,000).  On top of that my red blood cell count was HALF of what it should have been.  I spent that first of what would be many weekends in the hospital with doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with me.  

They eventually diagnosed me with ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura) which is basically where my immune system attacks my platelets for no reason.  But I went through months before the diagnosis where they thought I could have anything from ITP to a bone marrow disorder to leukemia.  Yes, I went around for about three months thinking I had blood cancer.  Not very pleasant for a girl just starting high school.  Luckily for me I didn't have luekemia, but I was still in the hospital 1-3 times a week for two years.  I was on a very aggressive steroid treatment as well as periodic IVIg treatments that not only didn't really fix my blood problem, also caused me to gain 80 lbs, have severe mood swings, and lead me to some pretty hard core self image and depression issues.

After 2 years my doctors decided I had to go to a more drastic from of treatment by way of splenectomy.  Word to the wise, if you can avoid having abdominal surgery, I suggest you do it because it hurts like a bitch.  If that didn't work we would have had to resort to forms of chemotherapy, which totally scared the shit out of me.  Luckily the splenectomy worked and after a couple weeks my counts leveled to a perfectly healthy 300,000 which was way better than expected.  I'm basically cured and I don't have to take any medication or do anything special now.  I just have to be aware of my immune system because I am missing a spleen, so I can get sick more easily than other people.  But compared to having blood cancer?  I'll give the spleen freely, again and again.

Ok, I'm telling you all way too much information so you can understand where I'm coming from when I say this book hit me on a very personal level.  John Green does an excellent job capturing the feeling of being sick.  From puffy steroid face to midnight hospital runs to being afraid that your death will ruin the ones you love, John Green covers the realities of illness with sensitivity and honesty.  He really gets what it's like to be sick, and to be so sick that you could die.  It doesn't fall into that sappy lifetime movie-esque melodrama of so many other cancer books.  

I also just LOVE Hazel and Gus.  So much.  And I won't spoil the plot, but I totally did not expect what happened to them in this book, and I am so glad it didn't go the way I was expecting it to.  I loved how their relationship forms and how they understand each other.  What's really great is these characters are people, not just their disease.  Plus the banter back and forth is adorable while their serious conversations made me think about my life and what I really valued.  I particularly loved the lesson Gus learns about wanting to leave a mark on the world, a legacy, something to be remembered by after he has died.  I think we all feel like that, but is the whole world knowing who we are really what's important?  Isn't having people who love you and loving them back enough?  I also loved their "infinity".  I don't want to say more than that, because I don't want to spoil, just tell you a little bit about why I love this book so much.  

While I'm not happy with the cover nor the blurb (I get why Jodi Picoult is on it, I just hate the fact that she is) I hope people outside the YA and nerdfighter community will pick this book up.  The Fault in Our Stars should be read by everyone who has ever felt like their life was less valuable due to something they cannot control, anyone who has ever wanted to be seen as more than "that cancer girl", and anyone who has ever had to come to terms with the finality of a human life.

Friday Face Off Cover Reveal: Sweet Shadows

Friday Face Off is a meme hosted by one of my favorite book bloggers Misty over at The Book Rat.  Usually this meme focuses on different cover designs for the same book and decides which is better for the story.  I wanted to take this meme and add a little twist to it today by discussing a cover reveal!

You all may remember that I did a review and giveaway of Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs.  Well, here we have the second book in the series, Sweet Shadows, due to be published sometime in 2012. Here is the cover art.

I have to admit I'm not that impressed.  I LOVED the cover of Sweet Venom, it's what drew me initially to the story.  I think they're trying to continue the snake/hair theme, but without the braid it losses the effect.  I still want to read the series though because the first book was highly enjoyable.  What do you think?

Booking Through Thursday 1/12/12

This is a weekly meme hosted by Booking Through Thursday in which every week a different question is posted that generally involved books and reading.

This week is interview week!  Here are some really great bookish questions that I'm going to enjoy answering :)

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read?

I really like to read at night.  I'm a bit of a night owl, so I just love snuggling up at the end of the day with a cup of hot tea and a good book.

2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.)

In the morning I like to read new posts on the blogs I follow and maybe some news updates.  I don't really read a newspaper or book or anything.

3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.)

 I'm really not a big on breakfast food, I usually just like fruit (bananas!).

4. How many hours a day would you say you read?

I try and read at least an hour, I'd say 0.5-3 hours a day.

5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago?

No, I've always been a big reader.  I took a bit of a break when I was in college, but not I read just as much as I did in high school.

6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader?

No, I think I'm medium.  I hear of some people who read a book a day and I just cannot do that.  I'd say I read a book every 3-5 days.

7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Oh wow, this is hard!  I think I'd like teleportation.  I absolutely HATE driving to work every day (45 minutes one way!) so being able to teleport to work would be freaking cool.  Not to mention I could teleport to Italy for a weekend, if I wanted.

8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go?

Yes, I almost always have some sort of book in my purse.

9. What KIND of book?

I always carry around my journal so I can make lists of groceries or whatever.  I may also be carrying whatever fiction book I'm reading at the time.

10. How old were you when you got your first library card?

Gosh, I don't even remember.  I was in elementary school, maybe first grade?  I've always had one (now I have three, because I'm cool like that).

11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?)

I have an original print of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, which is 1908.  It was my grandfathers, and I love it.  

12. Do you read in bed?

Yes!  It's one of my favorite places to read because I just love being all cozy.  I find reading a great way to wind-down from a long day.

13. Do you write in your books?

HELL NO.  I absolutely HATE writing in books of any kind.  I just don't understand why someone would write in a book, especially something that can't be erased like pen or hi-lighter.  If I need to take notes on a book I'll jot down the page number in a notebook.  That's what they're for, notes.

14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be?

I would say to read what you want to read.  Don't force yourself to read something just because it's "popular" or a "classic".  Read what interests you, and you'll find what you love.