Frostbite by Richelle Mead

#2 in Vampire Academy Series
Published in 2008 by Razorbill
4 Stars

Goodreads Review

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It's winter break at St. Vladimir's, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy's crawling with Guardians—including Rose's hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn't bad enough, Rose's tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason's got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy's not taking any risks… This year, St. Vlad's annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price…

Review:  Frostbite is the thrilling continuation of the Vampire Academy series.  There is even more action, mystery, and suspense in the second installment of this exciting series.  Rose our heroine is still as engaging as ever, ensuring the reader will not be missing the atmosphere so wonderfully set up in the first novel.

Frostbite shows a lot of growth for our characters, especially Rose.  This is the first time she experiences true loss and she comes to terms with the full responsibility of being a guardian and that people could die if she doesn't take her role seriously.  She also grows a lot with her relationship with Dimitri and with love in general.   There's still tons of the sexual tension we loved so much in the first book, but now their relationship has reached a new level.  There's an understanding that if you love someone you need to be willing to let them go so they have can happiness.  Rose stops being so self centered and learns how to put others before herself.


I really enjoyed the action sequences in this book.  There are some great training sessions with Rose and Dimitri and Rose and her mom Janine.  The ending is way more exciting than Vampire Academy.  I found myself staying up late into the night because I had to know how it ended!


The only negative is this book takes a while to develop and is very slow at the beginning.  There are some side stories that I don't think are very important to the book nor to the series story arc.  I also think this book felt like a transition book.  Frostbite read a bit like it was just all of the information you needed before you could get to the real story in the next book.  However, it was still very entertaining and a great continuation of the series.


Overall Frostbite is an exciting second book in the Vampire Academy series that introduces new characters, information, and dangerous situations.  Fans of the first book will not be disappointed!

Top 100 YA Book List

So I guess there's a list of the best 100 YA books floating around (I found it at Kaitlyn in Bookland) and I thought it would be really fun to see what books I own and what books I've read. I can assure you the later category will be much smaller than the former.  I'm going to follow the same convention as Kaitlyn and mark my progress as follows:

bold=read (links to reviewed ones)
italics=owned, but not yet read
bold and italics=owned and read

1. Alex Finn – Beastly

2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones 

3. Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)

4. Ally Condie – Matched

5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills

7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)

9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)

10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)

12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)

13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret

15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)

16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)

17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3)

18. Christopher Paolini - Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)

19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)

20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)

21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)

22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse

23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply

25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)

26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere

27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest

28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)

29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)

31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why 

33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)

34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines

37. John Green – Looking for Alaska

38. John Green – Paper Towns

39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)

40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)

41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)

42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)

43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)

44. Lemony Snicket - Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)

45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)

46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)

47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

48. M.T. Anderson – Feed

49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)

50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)

52. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief

53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger

54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time 

55. Mary Ting – Crossroads

56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)

57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)

58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

60. Meg Rosoff – How I live now

61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)

63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road

64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)

67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion

68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind

69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline

70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust

71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book

72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )

73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)

74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9, 10)

75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 

78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks

79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)

80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip

81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride

82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key

83. Sarah Dessen

84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

85. Scott Westerfeld - Leviathan (1, 2)

86. Scott Westerfeld - Uglies (1, 2, 3, 4)

87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days

88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy

89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)

90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)

92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host

93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)

94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees 

95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)

96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)

97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)

99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)

100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped


So my totals are:

130 books owned
43 books read
90 books owned but have not read

WOW.  I have so much reading to do!  I'm actually proud that of the 43 books read, I own all of them but 3 and one I sold, one I have no intention of buying, and one I'm waiting for the paperback version.  I think I'm also doing a good job of reviewing the books I've read, I need to review Perfect Chemistry and the rest of the Vampire Academy series.  Those are the only ones I'm surprised I haven't reviewed yet.

So how many books have you read?  Let me know in the comments!

Bookish Pet Peeves Part 1: No Face Covers

I've been noticing a lot of bookish pet peeves videos and blog posts circling around lately, and I wanted to put in my two cents.  I will probably make videos about this too, but considering I can write a lot quicker than I can edit, I'm going to give my awesome blog followers the first look! 

This is the first of many pet peeves, and it's various cover designs that make me want to smash my head on a desk.  I thought I could do all of my cover pet peeves in one post, but I have many so it's becoming a series!  Yay lol.

My first pet peeve is faces that are cut off somewhere in between the eyes and the nose.  I just don't understand why books do this, are eyes that scary?  If anything I think the eyes are the most important part of the face and if any feature is going to be on a cover, eyes would be my first choice.  This cover style can afflict entire series, such as The Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare.

      

 UGH.  My favorite of the covers is City of Fallen Angels because FINALLY we get to see a face!  Ohai there Clary, nice to see you.  Now if only we could see your man friend's face too it'd be perfect. 

Authors can be plagued by the no face books too.  One in particular is Maureen Johnson. 

13 Little Blue Envelopes gets it the worst with not one, but TWO no face covers.

The no face covers don't discriminate to just series however.  They also are on stand alone novels or just a few books in a series, like the books below.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Wicked Lovely #1, Fragile Eternity #3, and Darkest Mercy #5 in the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr

The Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong

And ok, let's discuss White Cat by Holly Black for a minute.  I know you can technically see the top of this guys head, but seriously?  Why is the series title across his eyes?  This could have been such a cool cover if it weren't for the fact that his eyes are covered!  It makes this cover look very silly.

To end this post here's a little reverse no face for you all.  John Green's An Abundance of Katherines.  I actually like this cover, maybe because we can SEE EYES.  Holy crap, what a novel idea.

Waiting on Wednesday 9/21/2011

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at breaking the spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is in honor of my birthday (September 27th) I wanted to show off two books that are being released on my birthday!  :

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

(P.S. I already have this book preordered and until I get it I am NOT reading any reviews!  I want to know nothing about this book so I will be suprised.  I'm EXCITED!!!!!)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

#3 in The Hunger Games Series
Published in 2010 by Scholastic
5 Stars


Goodreads Review
Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.

Review:  Mockingjay is the thrilling conclusions to The Hunger Games series that is very different from the first two but still a great conclusion to the trilogy.  There is heart stopping action, terrifying enemies, and an ending that will blow you away.

Ok, first let's talk about what I didn't like about the book.  There's really only one point I want to make.  I really didn't like Katniss in this book.  She is so amazing and strong and resourceful in the first two books and I didn't like how weak she seemed in this one.  Seriously, she spent the entire book bleeding or unconscious.  I think half of the time she couldn't do anything because she was recovering from some bullet hole.  She seemed to allow people to take advantage of her and also was way more dependent on other people telling her what to do.  I understand that Katniss is just a kid and I can totally forgive her some of her mental weakness because she was asked to do tremendous things.  However I still wanted Katniss to be strong and accept her role as a leader more.  I wanted her to truly become the mockingjay, not just in appearance but in her heart as well, and I didn't really get that from her.  I thought she tried hard though, and I guess no one's perfect.  It's a difficult situation to be in, and I have a lot of difficulty criticizing her because I can empathize with her at the same time.

Now let's talk about my favorite parts (without giving away the ending of course!).  I personally loved what happened to Peeta.  I think it made his character grow in ways I never saw coming and it kind of broke apart that faithful and perfect exterior he'd had through the first two books.  I also like how this changed him for life, and that he never fully recovers.  I think it makes him a lot more like Katniss. (Can't say anymore without huge spoilers!)

I also just LOVED the ending.  I don't want to give away major plot points, but I loved the brutality and the ambiguity of the ending.  You never know exactly who is the enemy and who to trust, and I liked that the ending can cause debate and allow you to draw your own conclusions.  If you're looking for a happily ever after, you'll probably be disappointed.  But if you're looking for characters that deal with the horrors they've witnessed and committed in the best ways they can, then Mockingjay and the entire series would be perfect.

Overall Mockingjay is a haunting conclusion to the bloody trilogy that isn't afraid to wound it's most loved characters.  Instead of creating a fairy tale ending, Mockingjay takes a brutaly honest route and forces the reader to accept that there is some damange that will never heal and that some wounds run too deep.  Mockingjay is a chilling and beautiful ending to a chilling and beautiful story.

Teaser Tuesday 9/20/2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author so others can add the book to their TBR list

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I awoke on the floor with my hands tied to the cooking range.  The girl was pacing nervously and appeared to be having an animated conversation with herself.  I kept my eyes most of the way shut and listened.  

Top Ten Tuesday 9/20/2011: Top Ten Books I Feel As Though Everyone Has Read But Me

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 FEEL AS THOUGH EVERYONE HAS READ BUT ME

1. Delirium by Lauren Oliver - I technically haven't read anything by Lauren Oliver, and with quickly approaching release of the follow up Pandemonium, I really need to get on this.
   
2. If I Stay by Gayle Forman - Here's another author from which I haven't read anything.   I know, I know.
   
3. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - This series is getting to the point of not having read The Hunger Games or Twilight.  I don't really know why I haven't started this series yet, I know it has a sexy bad boy (and I love me some sexy bad boys) so that should be motivation enough.
   
4. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins - Ok so this might be cheating seeing as how this book hasn't come out yet, but I feel like every single book blogger has gotten their hands on an ARC and all they can do is gush about how awesome this book is.  I'm impatiently waiting for my preordered copy to get here (11-15 days!)
   
5. Across the Universe by Beth Revis - I LOVE the cover for this book.  It's so cool and I see it in everyone's book hauls.  I have a copy too, but I haven't read it  yet.  I keep going oh, I want to read Across the Universe next!...but then I pick up something else.
   
6. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - Ok in my defense I HAVE read a book by Libba Bray (Beauty Queens) and I really liked it.  The Gemma Doyle series may be her most popular books so I really want to get some more Libba.
   
7. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - I have also read some Maggie Stiefvater (ARC of The Scorpio Races) and I LOVED it.  Shiver is a very popular series and I've been told it's very different from The Scorpio Races, but based on Stiefvater's writing alone I want to read everything she has done.
   
8. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - This is one of my more controversial books, but I think I will really like it.  The premise sounds like a very sad mystery, and I'm really curious to go on the journey and find out the thirteen reasons.
   
9. Gone by Michael Grant - This is probably one of the most popular YA post apocalyptic series.  A lot of reviewers I really admire have praised these books, so I really want to give them a go.  I'm about 99.9% sure I'll like them.
   
10. Crank by Ellen Hopkins - Another serious topic, I'm very intrigued by the poetic presentations of Ellen Hopkins's books.  I've never really read a book in verse, so I'm interested to see how topics such as drug abuse are handled in that format.

The sad thing is these are all books I own and really want to read them, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.   There seems to be a pretty fair mix though most have some sort of science fiction or fantasy spin on them.  Maybe these should be the next ten books I read?  What do you guys think?  Have you read any of these books, and if so what did you think?  Let me know in the comments!