Trees of Reverie Read-a-thon - Day 2

What's on your book wishlist for the holidays?

• A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
• Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
• Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon
• Across the Unviverse by Beth Revis
• Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
• Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Burnt
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
• A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
• The World of Ice & Fire by George R. R. Martin...................

...the list is infinite, really. And I'll only get a few even of these. But hey, I own a lot of books I haven't read yet so it's not like I don't have anything to read :)

In My Mailbox #2

This week I have four books to show you, two of which are giveaway prizes, and two that I purchased for myself.

These books arrived in the last two weeks. I think I'm most excited for The Lies of Locke Lamora, but of course I can't wait to read the others too. Ophelia is on the top of my TBR list at the moment. I'm going to start it once I finish Stone Faced Angel.

Goodreads links:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2) by Gabrielle Zevin

Ophelia by Lisa Klein

City of Ashes by Casandra Clare

Trees of Reverie Read-a-thon - Day 1

I'm participating in treesofriverie's read-a-thon this week.

There are challenges every day that the participants may or may not complete.

First day's challenge is the following:

Introduce us to your bookish world!

I made a shelfie for you, so you can see my collection of books. (Sorry for the quality, I have to use my dad's computer, because mine is being repaired at the moment and dad doesn't have any photo editing software...) These are not all of my books, but you can see all of my English books here. I've got two other shelves for Hungarian books in my room and there are also a ton of books in the living room and other parts of the house (all Hungarian ones of course). I'm the only one in the family who reads in English, hence I own all the books in this language. 

My shelves are a mess at the moment, I don't have much space left for books, but I guess all of us are having this problem, right?? On the top and middle shelves are the books I've already read (top shelves - Hungarian ones, middle shelves - English ones). The bottom left shelf is a place for my DVDs, the bottom right contains books I haven't read yet (left to the TARDIS) and more books I've finished (on the right side of the TARDIS). As you can see I've got quite a collection of Torchwood and Doctor Who books, I'm a big fan of both of these series.

I own a lot of of classics and YA books as well. I'm a big fan of the fantasy and sci fi genre, I love historical fiction and I'm a huge Shakespeare geek.

That's it, that's me, these are my books.

Have you written a post about your bookish world? Do you like the the same books/genres I do? Please leave a link to your post or leave a comment if you have anything to say!

Happ reading! :)

Review - Arwen Elys Dayton

Title: Seeker

Author: Arwen Elys Dayton

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor. As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world. And she'll be with the boy she loves--who's also her best friend.

But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes. Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.

And now it's too late to walk away.
 

I received a free ebook copy of this book by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


[Warning: This review contains possible mild spoilers!]

My thoughts: Seeker is a tale of betrayal, love, fate and self-discovery. Its blurb promised me adventure and the promise was kept; it was an adventure and it was so much more.

Before reading it I thought this book was going to have a medieval setting and Quin was going to be a lady knight of some kind (the synopsis suggests that), but I was wrong – well, partly. The book is set mostly in our time, but there is a strong medieval feeling to it at some parts, and in a flashback we in fact go back to the 15^th century one time. I loved how ancient, medieval and modern elements were mixed in Seeker.

I enjoyed the variety of modern settings (Hong Kong, the airship in London), but my favourite place in the book remains the estate which is located in Scotland. Somehow books set in Scotland lure me in these days… And I don’t mind, because that country is beautiful and a place of myths and legends. It was a perfect setting for the beginning of the novel.

What truly gripped me in Seeker was the question of villains. What made this book really unique for me and made it stand out among many of the YA books was that the villains emerged from the protagonist(s) own people. A family member. A lover. Turning against you. Now that can shatter your whole world. Now that is something that makes things complicated – and not only for Quin, but for the reader as well. Because the question arises: is John really a villain? Who can tell what is right and what is wrong in the situation they are in?

Let me tell you, I usually don’t enjoy love triangles, but in Seeker it’s not annoying. Or at least it wasn’t for me. Both John and Shinobu were interesting characters and there wasn’t a pink cloud anywhere near in sight.

No pink cloud and no sugarcoating either when it came to gruesome parts. Yes, it is a book for young adults, but don’t read it if you are squeamish, because there’s quite a lot of injuries, blood and death in it.

All in all, it was an amazing read and…………. GIVE ME THE SECOND BOOK! NOW! Please!?

Teaser Tuesday #2

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

The rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this Tuesday is from Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton

 

Blurb:

For readers of A Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games comes an epic new series.

The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor. As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world. And she'll be with the boy she loves--who's also her best friend.

But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes. Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.

And now it's too late to walk away.  

My Teaser:

'And though she thought he was "beautiful" – her word; he'd heard her use it – his beauty to her was like the beauty in a painting, something you admire but do not want to touch. It was the worst kind of beauty, he thought.'

How did you like this teaser? Please share your thoughts with me!

Play along if you'd like to! Leave a link to your teasers in the comment box below, or – if you don't have a book blog – share your teasers in a comment here. 

Review - Bummed Out City by Scott Burr

Title: Bummed Out City

Author: Scott Burr

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis: At almost thirty years old David Moore is living the unremarkable life he always equated with failure: instead of going on book tours and giving readings he’s scraping to pay his bills; instead of meeting with producers and selling the movie rights to his breakout novel he’s arguing with his girlfriend about whether they should get a dog. When an unexpected visit from his deadbeat dad upsets David’s fragile financial balancing act it sets in motion a series of domestic disagreements and ill-advised reactionary reprisals whose compounding repercussions threaten to unmake the tenuous structure of David’s mundane life: the life that David, focused only on that life’s disappointments, may not appreciate or fight to salvage until it’s already too late… 

The publisher provided me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My thoughts: Boy, did this book surprise me. I don’t read many contemporary novels but now I’m happy I decided to give Bummed Out City a chance.

I think the main reason why I liked this book is that it was honest and I could relate to the situations that certain characters found themselves involved in. Not necessarily because I once went through situations like those, but because they were life-like and I can imagine them happen to me or to anyone around me.

Virtually there is no plot in this book. Our protagonist, the not so successful writer, David Moore, is struggling to find his place in the world, to find his goal in life and to find answers to his questions. He thinks his life is already over, even though it hasn’t even started yet.

Bummed Out City is a coming of age novel. This statement might sound weird after you find out that the main character is 29 years old, but this fact makes it no less true. David hates the idea of responsibility and since he cannot deal with any amount of it, he’s stuck. He rather sinks in self-pity than lift a finger in order to move forward. And of course as a result of his behaviour things go wrong: his girlfriend is mad at him all the time, he finds himself without a job and thus he runs out of money; he’s drifting.

To be frank, I can’t say I liked David in the first half of the book. I felt sorry for him, yes, and wanted to be on his side, but most of the time his inability to change things, his negativity and passivity annoyed me. However, later, when everything fell apart around him I started rooting for him and wished he would make it. The ending didn’t disappoint, I liked how realistic it was.

With Bummed Out City I stepped out of my comfort zone, but I didn’t regret it for a moment. I recommend this novel to everyone who would like to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Goodreads link

Visit the publisher’s tumblr

What's Next? #1

What's Next is a weekly meme hosted by IceyBooks.

Click here to read more about the meme and go here to participate.

Here are a few books I want to read soon. Which one should I pick up first?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire.

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love...
  


Love and rivalry. Can one survive the other? I'm dying to know.

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) 

by Cassandra Clare

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? Clary would love to spend more time with her best friend, Simon. But the Shadowhunters won't let her go--especially her handsome, infuriating newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil--and also her father. When the second of the Mortal Instruments is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor suspects Jace. Could Jace really be willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

I read City of Bones a while ago and loved it very much. I hope the second book will be even better (if that's possible at all...).

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Freed from jail, Anya hopes that things will get back to normal. But life on the outside is even more dangerous than life behind bars. Some of her gangland family want revenge for the crime for which she has done time: the shooting of her uncle. Forced to flee the country, Anya hides out in a cacao plantation in Mexico. There she learns the secrets of the chocolate trade, a trade that is illegal and deadly in her native New York. There too she discovers that seemingly random acts of violence carried out across the world have a single target: her family. As innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire Anya must act fast and decisively to stop it, no matter what the danger to herself.

I started the Birthright series ages ago, so probably I should re-read All These Things I've Done before starting Because It Is My Blood to relive the events of the first book. I feel it's time to marathon these two books and then get the third one and read that as well.

Ophelia by Lisa Klein

He is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; she is simply Ophelia. If you think you know their story, think again.

In this reimagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, it is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy, motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle to become the queen's most trusted lady-in-waiting.  Ambitious for knowledge and witty as well as beautiful, Ophelia learns the ways of power in a court where nothing is as it seems. When she catches the attention of the captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, their love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and Ophelia's happiness is shattered. Ultimately, she must choose between her love for Hamlet and her own life. In desperation, Ophelia devises a treacherous plan to escape from Elsinore forever . . . with one very dangerous secret.

Being a Shakespeare geek I'm always ready to put my nose in a book as this one. Hamlet is one of my favourite Shakespearean tragedies and I'm eager to read the story from Ophelia's point of view!

  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Amir is the son of a wealthy Kabul merchant, a member of the ruling caste of Pashums. Hassan, his servant and constant companion, is a Hazara, a despised and impoverished caste. Their uncommon bond is torn by Amir's choice to abandon his friend amidst the increasing ethnic, religious, and political tensions of the dying years of the Afghan monarchy, wrenching them far apart. But so strong is the bond between the two boys that Amir journeys back to a distant world, to try to right past wrongs against the only true friend he ever had.

I've only heard positive things about The Kite Runner. And come on, this is a book about friendship. Who doesn't love a book about friendship...?

Help me decide! Which one do you think I should read next? Please leave a comment below!